God bless us every one. Ebenezer Scrooge is back in town, in a highly modified adaptation of the Charles Dickens classic A Christmas Carol that first played on Broadway in 2019 (and scooped up four Tony Awards in that COVID-shortened season). Director Matthew Warchus reconceived the familiar story of yuletide redemption as a play with music performed in an intimate, in-the-round staging that fits better into the Perelman Performing Arts Center than it did in the Lyceum Theatre further uptown. PAC NYC’s black-box space has been transformed into a stylized place of old-world grandeur that carries the ghostly echoes of gaslit London streets of the mid-19th century: A constellation of yellow-glowing lanterns hang overhead the stage and the auditorium, doorways and suitcases pop up out of the slatted wooden stage floor, and the lush costumes suggest a hand-painted version of period book illustrations. (Rob Howell designed the set and costumes, while Hugh Vanstone provided the lighting and Simon Baker supplied the door-slamming, chain-rattling sound design.)
Michael Cerveris plays Scrooge less as a misanthropic grump than as proto-financier with a singular focus on making money such that any distraction — from charity-seeking carolers to his invite-ready nephew Fred (George Abud) to his longtime, much-maligned clerk Bob Cratchit (Dashiell Eaves) — becomes irksome beyond all measure. His ghost-assisted nighttime journey through his past, present, and future should be familiar to just about everyone in the English-speaking world — and yet this production, co-directed for this venue by Thomas Caruso, holds many surprises.
The pleasures start with Christopher Nightingale’s Tony-winning score, a delightful arrangement of classic English Christmas tunes that sound magnificent with the harmonizing 17-member cast and the sharp eight-person orchestra under Chris Gurr’s baton. You can pick out a mandolin, an accordion, and even a tin whistle — and revel in the ensemble’s careful collaboration on hand bells (including in an encore rendition of “Silent Night” that ends the evening on a festive note).
Warchus’ staging also boasts several theatrical flourishes, encompassing the entirety of the auditorium (and soliciting the help of the audience) to assemble the final holiday feast. But adapter Jack Thorne, an acclaimed writer whose credits include Harry Potter and the Cursed Child and the recent Netflix miniseries Adolescence, has taken a lot of liberties with Dickens’ original novella — to mixed results. Scrooge now gets a compensating backstory, with an alcoholic and physically abusive father (Chris Hoch, who doubles as Scrooge’s late partner and first ghost, Jacob Marley) and drawn-out encounters with Belle (Julia Knitel), the girl that got away. She’s now the daughter of his first employer, Mr. Fezziwig (Paul Whitty), who initially coaches young Ebenezer on how to win an apprenticeship with her dad. Tellingly, he does this by appealing to Fezziwig’s commitment to a form of ethical capitalism, placing the needs of the most deserving ahead of extracting the best price.
It’s a principle that Ebenezer abandons almost immediately when he leaves Fezziwig’s employ to strike out on his own, initially in hopes of building a big enough nest egg to secure his future with Belle. These new scenes, intended us to help understand Scrooge and the unfortunate, self-defeating path he pursues, instead have the curious effect of muddying our understanding of his arc. How does the young Ebenezer we meet early on (Maxim Chlumecky, wide-eyed and sweet), an imaginative lad playing with his dolls, morph into such a bitter miser?
How does that hardened old man still possess the capacity for change — even allowing for the intervention of otherworldly agents, all of whom are played here by women. Nancy Opel brings a take-no-guff schoolmarm quality to the Ghost of Christmas Past; Crystal Lucas-Perry injects a sassy confidence and a head-scratching Caribbean accent into the Ghost of Christmas Present; and the Ghost of Christmas Future emerges as the reincarnation of Scrooge’s beloved sister Fan (Ashlyn Maddox), who died young giving birth to Fred. (Does he refuse the lad’s invitations because he some resents her for taking his sister from this world? The play doesn’t go there, for better or worse.)
There is another problem with trying to fill in some of the gaps in Scrooge’s background with psychological shadings: The genial equanimity of all those around him begins to look more like enabling, a natural inclination not to challenge the wealthy guy who plows over everyone, including his own blood relatives, to get his way. Thorne’s script frequently feels out of balance — the intermission comes after the Ghost of Christmas Present. Act 2 hurries through the future forecast to center on Scrooge’s prolonged efforts to make amends. It’s as if he’s gone through a sped-up night of intensive therapy and must rush to his twelfth step before it’s too late. We even get an earnest new conversation with Belle, long married to another man, that highlights all of her former love’s squandered opportunities. It’s a nice reality check, and rings true, but everybody is far too patient of this man who either tormented or ignored them for decades.
I appreciate the impulse to humanize Scrooge, but some things are lost by putting so much of the focus on this troubled soul stuck in a predicament of his own devising. The plight of the Cratchit family, and their disabled son, Tiny Tim, gets relatively little stage time here — which is a shame since the role is brought to such memorable life. Izzy Elena Rita, a young actress diagnosed with a spinal cord tumor as an infant and who uses forearm crutches, brings a touching authenticity and forthrightness to a role she shares with Micah Fay Lupin.
While this Carol follows a bumpy path exploring the roots of Scrooge’s personality, there are many pleasures to savor. The show has a big-heartedness that you feel even before the house lights dim, as cast members pass out clementines and gingerbread cookies to the audience. You’d have to be a humbug to resist the charms of a classic tale, well told, in a twinkly setting that can feel like you’ve settled down by the fireplace for a story to be read aloud. And when Scrooge and Tiny Tim reunite center stage in the closing moments, playing the final notes of “Silent Night” on their respective hand bells, you may feel a wave of comfort and joy rush over you. ★★★☆☆
A CHRISTMAS CAROL
Perelman Performing Arts Center (PAC NYC), Off Broadway
Running time: 2 hours, 5 minutes (with 1 intermission)
Tickets on sale through January 4 for $58 to $196
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