Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” is one of those stories you think you know. It is a ubiquitous Holiday favorite, for a number of reasons, in its timeless exploration of what it means to be human in a community of other humans. You think you know it, until you see a fresh and glorious adaptation like the current offering at Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey (STNJ. This is not your grandparents’ “Carol!”
Neil Bartlett’s refreshing adaption was first performed at STNJ in 2011 under Bonnie Monte’s direction. This outing in the febrile hands of my favorite director, Brian B. Crowe, becomes an onomato-poet-ic outing that has a joy and darkness all its own. This ensemble cast features some of the same folks, but in different roles. Former Christmas Present Ames Adamson is now Scrooge and Clark Carmichael has stepped up to Bob Cratchit. Rounding out the cast we have Garret Lawson, Quentin McCuiston, Emma O’Donnell, Lindsay Smiling, Raphael Nash Thompson, Emily Michelle Walton, Alison Weller, and Billie Wyatt.
Adamson’s Scrooge is grumpy-old-man, funny and pathetic. It feels like he is sui generis this hardened figure. Yet as he goes through his quest, McCuiston’s Christmas Past, replete in Restoration era white satin, has an antic manner that jogs something that begins to loosen the emotional log jam that has brought Scrooge to his dark and arid place. Smiling’s Christmas Present is ebullient and jolly, yet when he introduces the Children of Mankind–Ignorance and Want—it is a chilling moment that sets up the arrival of the mysterious Christmas Yet to Be.
The ensemble is everything from lightbulbs to clocks and everything in between. Yes, the lightbulb was invented 36 years after “A Christmas Carol” was first written, but the bit with the lightbulb reinforces Scrooge’s parsimoniousness. As does the statement of his eating of his grand Christmas Eve supper–no seven fishes for our Scrooge–it is thin, cold gruel–just the way he likes it. This makes his return on the birthday of the Light of the World that much more satisfying as he steps into the light of the new day. This cast, this show, and this season are all meant for one another as we remember to be more kind, more deliberate, and more patiently connected with one another.
Visit www.shakespearenj.org or call the box office at 973/408-5600 as this “Carol” sings its final note December 29 so avoid the Holiday Rush and book NOW! You will be the Best Gift Giver—in the history of Ever.