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A Christmas Carol by La Jolla Stage Company La Jolla Stage Company is ending 2004 with that immortal Christmas classic, with the work of Charles Dickens undergoing a new adaptation by local playwright David Wiener. This Christmas Carol makes use of various traditional “Christmas carols” to help tell the story while sticking very closely to the original book including several lines that you rarely hear. The result is a fairly entertaining production overall with pleasant music and good but seldom-heard dialogue. Thomas McCreary stars as Ebenezer Scrooge – an always irritated and rather snooty Scrooge at first. His best scenes are his last when he becomes a giddy schoolboy again (or, in Scrooge’s case, for the first time). Ebenezer’s path from miserly curmudgeon to cheerful philanthropist begins with a haunting by his long-deceased business partner (who arrives with some awful-smelling fog). Gordon Bedford is the extraordinarily loud and melodramatic Marley who tells Scrooge that three ghosts will be visiting him in the hopes of saving Scrooge from a fate of eternal misery. Those hauntings begin with Zoe Katz as the divinely serene spirit of Christmas Past who reveals to Scrooge the shadows of his mistake-ridden youth, always with a sense of otherworldliness and curiosity about her. Walt Savell is the more human-like Christmas Present. The usually mysterious and awe-inspiring hooded figure of the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come loses most of that awe due to an odd addition to the script. When the frightened Scrooge asks the heretofore silent and intimidating ghost if he will say something, instead of staying mysteriously silent his masked minion replies, “No.” An answer that amusingly contradicts itself, and makes the ghost seem a lot less ominous. Back in the world of humans, the Cratchit family is warm and natural, with Jude Evans as the fun but timid Bob and the bright-eyed Daniel Myers as a lovable Tiny Tim. Ashley Montgomery is the beautiful Belle, Scrooge’s lost love from youth, who sings a lovely Ave Maria. She is also key to Wiener’s most effective use of Christmas carols when Belle, having walked away from Ebenezer, is poignantly offered tidings of comfort and joy in a nicely staged ending to the first act. The ensemble does a fine job including Gordon Bedford as the Narrator, Alfred Vargas as Fred, Alice Cash as a devious pawn broker, and a chorus of carolers who fill this holiday classic with classic holiday music.Performed through December 19, 2004.
Rob Hopper ~ Cast ~
Narrator, Mr. Fezziwig, Marley, Man Two, Chorus: Gordon Bedford Junk Woman, Chorus: Alice Cash Fan, Chorus: Erin Dellinger Bob Cratchit, Chorus: Jude Evans Mrs. Fezziwig, Mrs. Cratchit, Chorus: Julie Inman Christmas Past, Chorus: Zoe Katz Laying Out Woman, Chorus: Erin Kerwin Martha Cratchit, Chorus: Brittney Manlapig Scrooge: Thomas McCreary Mary, Christmas Angel, Belle, Chorus: Ashley Montgomery Tiny Tim, Scrooge as Boy, Chorus: Daniel Myers Cratchit Daughter, Chorus: Charlotte Ostrow Portly Fellow, Christmas Present: Walt Savell Girl, Chorus: Danielle Smotrich Fred, Young Scrooge, Chorus: Alfred Vargas Chorus: Aja Zaremba Adaptation: David Weiner Director: James Dublino Musical Director: Hattie Hedrick Stage Manager/Set Designer: Jessica Seaman Light Designer: Jeff Myers Costume Designer: Quynh Palomino Choreographer: Paula Pierson Dramaturg: Amanda Caraway |