"A Christmas Carol": Bar Humbug!

By Jack Craib, New Rep Reviewer

So there’s this old miser named Scrooge, and three Christmas ghosts, who walk into a bar….oh, you’ve heard this one before. Well, if you (and the immediate world) are familiar with the story, anyone who attempts to revisit the hallowed halls of this ultimate Dickensian holiday tale had best have a novel and engaging approach to such material. In the past the parable has featured the likes of Alastair Sim (still the benchmark in this reviewer‘s experience), Jim Carrey, Albert Finney, Kelsey Grammer and Scrooge McDuck. Happily, the New Rep found just such a way to revitalize the source material.

Several years ago, former New Rep Artistic Director Rick Lombardo wrote an adaptation that managed to stay faithful to the original while discovering hidden depths of meaning and emotion. Lombardo’s successor, Kate Warner, has wisely chosen to continue this tradition and placed it in the very competent hands of director Bridget Kathleen O’Leary. O’Leary, in turn, has entrusted the title role into the capable hands of Paul D. Farwell, who is no stranger to the part, having played it at New Rep now for five seasons. He brings a great deal of much-appreciated comic elements without making Scrooge seem like a buffoon. It’s a risk, but it pays off handsomely.

The current production, evoking in numerous ways a truly Victorian Christmas, features the talents of some fine New Rep veterans as well as some extremely promising newcomers from Watertown Children‘s Theater. In the former category, Peter Edmund Haydu, Brooke Hardman and William Gardiner, all in multiple roles, are among the standouts. In the latter group, attention must be paid to the heartrending performance of Ella Miller as Tiny Tim (though the part as expanded by Lombardo skirts perilously close to overcooked melodrama more than once), and the incredibly mature stage presence of Tim Traversy as Peter Cratchit, whose confidence belies his young age. That said, the company actually works best as a company, when they become a true ensemble of actors, singers, and instrumentalists.

Yes, you read that right. Not only do these performers provide the level of acting and singing credibility one has come to expect from New Rep, but they are also extraordinarily proficient at accompanying the festivities on piano and organ (Patrick Ryan), guitar (Haydu), and over a dozen other instruments. As in the recent creations by John Doyle, in London and Broadway, of “Company” and “Sweeney Todd”, most of the principals demonstrate this impressive ability to multi-task. Add to this the versatile and imaginative set, period-perfect costumes, and original special effects, and one can easily enjoy the time spent with these very talented folks. (The sound balance needs work, though).

This current “Carol” is above all dependably family-friendly (though, as in most productions, the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come may be a bit too dark for the youngest theatergoers). Nephew Fred may have gone up on a couple of lines, Martha Cratchit may have been unable to extinguish a recalcitrant candle, and Scrooge’s bed may have refused to cooperate at one spot. The scene where Scrooge’s possessions are divided up goes on much too long. By and large, however, this production works. And that’s no humbug.