A Christmas Carol is spooky and sparkling

When you see a show for the first time, it’s fresh and exciting. At the second viewing, you check for things you may have missed during the first go. After reviewing a production for more than a half dozen times, you’ve seen it, written about it. Now what?

This was my dilemma as I sat in the Maclab Theatre reviewing Citadel Theatre’s A Christmas Carol. The dilemma quickly washed away.

It’s a brilliant story about four spirits that offer a crotchety miser a chance at redemption, and I was sucked in from the first few minutes as a lone child under a spotlight sings a high-pitched, haunting chorus of God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen.

With a crackle of thunder, the scene changes to a cemetery where a preacher delivers a eulogy above a pine box perched on a rock. It is a cold Christmas Eve night, and thick fog rolls over craggy rocks.

Less than a handful of people are present, and Scrooge’s impatience at being kept from business sours the mood. Suddenly, an unearthly voice calls out a warning only Scrooge can hear. “Save yourself,” wails the tortured voice of Jacob Marley.

And that warning encapsulates everything Charles Dickens felt was relevant about creating a strong society. That included being generous of spirit, showing gratitude to those who love and protect us, conveying compassion for all and opening our purse strings to assist others – values Scrooge obstinately opposes.

Not only is Christmas Carol a strong, multi-layered story, the current version appears slightly tweaked giving the 17-year-old holiday treat a re-energized ambiance.

I was won over by the fresh modifications that delivered moments of comedy and drama, laughter and tears and produced a sparkling, overall animated quality.

Part of Christmas Carol’s vibrancy is due to the return of Tom Wood as the cantankerous penny-pincher, a role he created and popularized so well.

Wood is perfect as the tubby miser who barks and growls at the world and throws up walls to anyone offering him a smidgen of kindness. Scrooge’s masterful slapdowns are at once mean-spirited yet quite funny, a testament to Wood’s deft comedic touch.

As Scrooge is visited by four spirits, his dead business partner Jacob Marley and the three spirits of time, Wood digs deeply into his well of emotions and responds with fear, anger, doubt and then a pure, childlike innocence before resignation and acceptance.

And Jamie Williams, Scrooge’s long-suffering underpaid and undervalued clerk, Bob Cratchit, is shivering in a cold, unheated office when we first see him. Scrooge refuses to burn coal. It’s too expensive.

As Cratchit rubs his hands together for warmth, you feel his powerlessness. Yet despite Scrooge’s snappish treatment, he remains even-tempered. And when visitors come looking for a donation for the poor, he is cordial and gracious.

That sets Scrooge off on another tirade where he berates Cratchit for wanting Christmas Day off and calls the holiday, “a poor excuse for picking a man’s pocket.”

Actually, the entire cast delivered an unblemished performance on opening night. Former St. Albert actor John Kirkpatrick was terrifying as Jacob Marley while Lilja Radstaak voiced by Nancy McAlear as the Ghost of Christmas Past lit up the world like a Christmas tree.

Steve Ross handled the Ghost of Christmas Present with a serene composure even as the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come, a black-hooded 16-foot Grim Reaper cloaked in a dark soulless void chilled the air.

Beth Graham as Mrs. Cratchit was tender and feisty in the same breath while Darla Biccum as Mrs. Dilber, Scrooge’s cockney housekeeper, not only garnered a lot of laughs during her encounters with Scrooge, but you could also feel her maternal desperation at having to feed a family on her master’s tightwad wages.

Throughout the production, the stage brimmed with swirling colour and movement, a mix of Leslie Frankish’s realistic Dickensian costumes and sets, and Linda Rubin’s choreography.

There’s a great deal of magical thinking that has gone into this production. A Christmas Carol is a great way to celebrate the holidays and will leave you with a smile on your face.

After every show, cast members line up outside the theatre greeting the audience and in the spirit of the season will accept monetary donations for the Edmonton Food Bank.