Scrooged again

A fresh spin on classic Dickens at the Foothills

by Steve Vineburg

A CHRISTMAS CAROL.

Adapted and directed by Michael Walker. Based on the story by Charles Dickens. Choreographed by Wil Darcangelo. Musical direction by Rene Pfister. Sets designed by Peter Kallok. Costumes by Kurt S. Hultgren. Lighting by Annmarie Duggan. With John Davin, Josef Hansen, Cory Scott, Robert J. Bouffier, Diego Arciniegas, Kate Lohman, Bob Dolan, Julie Perkins, and Karen Woodard Massey. At Worcester Foothills Theatre, through December 23.

We've seen so many dramatizations of A Christmas Carol that it's hard to imagine what new variations a production could ring on Dickens's story, short of finding inventive ways

to contemporize it - as the 1988 Bill Murray movie, Scrooged (my own favorite), did. But the adaptation at Foothills by artistic director Michael Walker is freshly conceived; it doesn't feel like other Christmas Carols. Walker has hewn more even closely to Dickens in dialogue and in narrative detail than the more familiar stage and movie versions, and stylistically he strays from the Victorian fairy-tale look we're used to. Instead he tries a broader, pop-up storybook approach - set pieces like three-dimensional cardboard cut-outs that the actors wheel into place in front of a silhouette of the London rooftops and a sky-blue cyclorama.

The problem is that Walker has only some of the elements he needs to carry it off. Annmarie Duggan's lighting is rather monochromatic; it doesn't shape the action or help bring it to magical life. The sets Peter Kallok designed, though individually pleasing, are unwieldy and overcrowd the Foothills space. The mechanics of moving them in and out undermines the fluidity of the narrative, and - perhaps partly because of the difficulty of maneuvering the actors around them - the staging is sometimes clumsy. But this is a very erratic show: at other times, especially in the opening images and the dance numbers (choreographed by Wil Darcangelo), the direction is graceful and even a little inventive. There are some charming effects - the appearance of Marley's spirit, dragging his chains, along the floor of Scrooge's bedchamber; the illuminated gravestone that the Ghost of Christmas Future conjures up. The music (directed by Rene Pfister), consisting of English carols and folk tunes that were mostly unfamiliar to my ear, buoys up the proceedings and lightens the scenic transitions. And the extravagant range of costumes by Kurt S. Hultgren more than fulfills the imaginative demands of the material. Hultgren is my colleague at Holy Cross; his output for Foothills provides a glimpse of the astonishing work he's been producing quietly in Worcester for more than two decades.

As is commonly the case with Foothills shows, the acting is not all it should be. John Davin, who has performed frequently for the company (though usually in supporting parts), has a great face for Ebenezer Scrooge - gaunt and animated, leprechaun-ish - and he's fine in the opening scenes. But he overworks a phony English accent (it's clearly meant to be non-realistic, but it just sounds amateurish) and he milks his scenes more and more outrageously as the play goes on. The stylization gives Davin permission to playact, and he's not the only one on the stage who falls into that trap, though most of the others are in much smaller roles. Some of the performances are merely indifferent, like Kate Lohman as the Ghost of Christmas Past - a missed opportunity - and Julie Perkins as Belle, the young woman Scrooge lost as a young man because he'd fallen in love with money. Josef Hansen as the put-upon but uncomplaining clerk Bob Cratchit and Cory Scott as Scrooge's irrepressible nephew Fred are far more successful, and Lohman seems more comfortable in her second incarnation, as Fred's wife. The best character acting is from Diego Arciniegas, who doubles as the ghost of Jacob Marley and - in the Christmas Past episode - Mr. Fezziwig, the beloved old man in whose firm Scrooge apprentices. (He reappears a final time, mute and forbidding, as Christmas Future.) Arciniegas also contributes line-drawn cameos, fanciful but exact.

Audiences will probably forgive the Foothills Christmas Carol its shortcomings, not just because the company's subscribers tend to be loyal supporters, but also because, inconsistent as the production is, it's ebullient and often hits upon the Dickens spirit Walkers keeps striving to locate. It only occasionally makes the mistake of playing cute to win smiles and applause from the audience - traditionally the least attractive trait of Foothills productions. And perhaps if it becomes an annual event, Walker will have the perspicacity to dispense with those moments, like Scrooge's poking his head through the curtain at the end after the ensemble has taken its bows. It's potentially an excellent show. With a cast that's stronger all around and improved set and lighting designs, it could become the Christmas treat Worcester theatergoers need.