The Alabama Shakespeare Festival is kicking off the holiday season with a return of former Artistic Director Rick Dildine's version of A Christmas Carol. Dildine and assistant director Matt Lytle treat River Region audiences to their fast-paced and significantly abbreviated entertainment.
This high-level entertainment [ensemble acting, inventive and flexible set, stunning visual projections, lush period costumes, catchy Appalachian music performed by an accomplished on-stage band] pleased the small opening night audience who cheered at the curtain call after a mere 90-minutes, including an unnecessary 15-minute intermission.
Despite its brevity, the major plot elements of Charles Dickens's classic 1843 tale of miserly Ebenezer Scrooge's [Paul Slide Smith] Christmas Eve reclamation journey are retained. -- As the ghost of his former business partner Jacob Marley [Tarah Flanagan] intervenes on his behalf by sending the Ghosts of Christmases Past [Adrian Denise Kiser], Present [Chauncy Thomas], and Future [Garrett Van Allen] to show him the way to a new life of honoring Christmas throughout the year, the story unravels quickly, and we watch Scrooge's gradual awakening to his misdeeds and how to correct them.
Scrooge's nephew Fred [Harry Thornton] will not be deterred by his uncle's "Bah, humbug!" from celebrating Christmas with a spirit of compassionate good will towards everyone. -- Scrooge's clerk Bob Cratchit [Matt Lytle] knows how to celebrate Christmas despite his economic woes and the declining health of his youngest child Tiny Tim [Samuel Joseph Mason on opening night].
As an idealistic and romantic Young Scrooge [Zack Powell] woos and loses Belle [Oriana Lada] because of his focus on material wealth, and former employer Mr. Fezziwig [Chris Mixon] sets a fine example of the best uses of money to give pleasure to others, we are shown several examples of the unsatisfying impact of greed, until the ultimate moment of facing death without leaving a meaningful legacy.
There are a couple of enhancements since last year's production: (1) a bit more attention to Fezziwig's influence in the Christmas Eve dance at he party he throws for his employees, and (2) more pointed staging where an invisible Scrooge is placed between other characters who are talking about him, thereby making their critical words about him have a direct impact on his eventual change. -- And, like last year, there are two "Young Company" cast members drawn from the local community who alternate for each performance.
In the end, Mr. Smith's gleeful Scrooge is infectious; and who can argue with ringing in this festive season with Tiny Tim's resounding "God bless us, every one!"
