Review - Return to A Christmas Carol

My holiday funds are limited this year, so I've had to cut back a bit - I've got a couple of holiday-themed events this week that generous friends are treating me to, but I had to pass on The Nutcracker at BAM (that sound you hear is my heart breaking, though I did enjoy my goddaughter's dance recital last weekend with bits of Nutcracker in it), my poor nephew will be receiving fewer gifts from Santa Aunt Tari, and I was also going to have to miss my favorite version of A Christmas Carol, but another generous friend saved the day with a couple of comps.  Last night, I took a beautiful gal pal to the Merchant's House Museum and again spent a blissful hour in the company of my friend Kevin Jones and his wonderful one-man version of Dickens' classic.

I've seen this production of A Christmas Carol, produced by the Summoners Ensemble Theatre, a few times, both in early reading incarnations and Off-Broadway (you can read those reviews here and here), and, full disclosure, performer/co-adapter John Kevin Jones is a friend of mine, but that doesn't negate my complete and utter enjoyment of this wonderful piece.  I love A Christmas Carol, in most of its various iterations, but this one is very near to my heart, mainly because it combines the magic of Christmas and the magic of theater all in one.  It has been so smartly adapted to include all of the major moments that any version of Christmas Carol must include, but the adaptation also clearly uses Dickens' more socially aware language that points up the vast chasm between the wealthy and the poor.  There probably is never a time where the moral of A Christmas Carol isn't completely relevant, but it seems especially so now, in this era of the rich becoming richer and the poor becoming poorer.   

I was so happy that the production returned to the gorgeous Merchant's House Museum.  I adore visiting old homes and viewing how they were once lived in (all of the artifacts in the building were purchased by the original owners), and seeing a story retold in a space from the same era is quite moving.  The 19th century parlour is the perfect location to hear about a goose, plum pudding, workhouses, Ignorance & Want, and redemption.

I know in my other reviews I have waxed rhapsodic about this production, but guess what?  I will again now.  I think Kevin and his director/co-adapter Rhonda Dodd have done a wonderful job in keeping the story moving and finding just the right pace for all the highs and lows of this moving and theatrical story.  Kevin is brilliant at differentiating between all of the characters and it truly feels as if I've seen several actors in a rep company instead of just one man.  As Scrooge, he's just as cantankerous and mean as you would want, but he's also quite funny and strangely charming.  Every now and then, with the bits of humor that peak out, you can see the man before he lost his soul to money.  I really enjoyed that.  It's a reminder that nobody is ever just one thing alone.  And the charm made Scrooge's transformation and reformation that much more moving at the end.  As always, Jacob Marley scared the pants off me - there is terror and guilt and pain in all the rasps of his voice; this character just fills the room with an enormous presence that perfectly mirrors the desciption of him in the text.  The Cratchits are warm and kind-hearted, Fezziwig and his wife are generous and jovial, and Scrooge's lost fiancee is so sad and touching in her despair.  But really, every character is distinct and true.  



photo credit: Summoners Ensemble

I was, as always, quite moved throughout.  At Scrooge's stopping and telling the Ghost of Christmas Past "I should've liked to say something to my clerk just then."  At the pause his nephew Fred makes when Scrooge asks to come in for Christmas dinner.  At the Cratchits when they've lost Tiny Tim.  And especially at Ignorance and Want.  Oh, and I'm like Pavlov's dog - all I have to hear is "And Tiny Tim, who did not die!" and I'm a sobbing mess.  It is just incredible to me that there can be so much emotion and scope in an evening that clocks in at around an hour, which is just another example of how expertly this adaptation has been put together.

The show runs for two more weekends until December 28 and I strongly urge everyone to buy tickets to see the Summoners Ensemble Theatre's production of A Christmas Carol at the Merchant's House Museum.  You'll be ever so glad you did, I promise.  Doesn't everyone need a little reminder of what's good in the world this time of year?  And I would also like to put in a little plug for the Merchant's House Museum.  The building, both inside and out, was designated a National Landmark many years ago, yet there is going to be construction next to the building that may seriously damage or destroy some of the wonderfully historic features of the house.  I urge you to go to their website, www.merchantshouse.org, and read about the plans and consider a donation.  I make a donation every year to a different organization around the holidays, this year, it's going to the Merchant's House.  As New Yorkers, we have to do everything we can to preserve our history for generations to come.  Plug complete.