There have been songs, dances, parodies, and even Muppets. But in all my travels— these 35 and a half years upon this earth— making merry and keeping the spirit and tradition of Christmas alive in my heart not only during the season but all the year, I have never heard of a visit to a lighthouse during the travels of The Ghost of Christmas Present with Ebenezer Scrooge in Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. But may Tiny Tim be my judge— it’s there. In Dickens’ original text. (He was paid by the word, it’s a wonder we didn’t visit multiple lighthouses and other such nonsense in vivid detail all during that ‘one-night-spiritual-journey.’) And you’ll hear about this lighthouse, and the ship at sea, and the ubiquitous, nameless younger Cratchits— and a whole slew of other oft removed, forgotten, and unknown details— in A Christmas Carol at Spotlighters Theatre is Christmas of 2021. Performed in true Dickensian style as a one-man show, starring Phil Gallagher (a real Englishman!) and Directed by Sherrionne Brown, this riveting, compelling, fascinating rendition of the iconic Christmas tale will have you so engrossed in the story, you won’t even notice it’s over two and a half hours long.

There isn’t much required to properly tell the tale of A Christmas Carol. After all, didn’t Dickens himself do exactly that with a pulpit for his book-holding hand (though he never read from the book itself; he knew every word by heart) and his own wondrous voice? The creative team at Spotlighters— featuring director Sherrionne Brown on Sound, Set, and Props Design, Fuzz Roark on Lighting Design, and Sound Editing by Fred Brown— have given a little more than just the actor to this production, lending hints of atmosphere to truly ‘set the stage’ as it were for a thrilling, chilling, and memorable retelling of A Christmas Carol. Fuzz Roark’s lighting design is subtle, nuanced, and as expected if you have even a fleeting familiarity with the story. There are moments of unearthly brightness— often when encountering one of the spirits, strange glows of warming and cooling depending upon the mood of the scene, and flickering candles that surround each of the load-baring support columns which frame the stage. (Though that could be considered a Scenic & Properties effect as they don’t actually cue to life.) There’s a fireplace, Scrooge’s chair, and a space for his coatrack and dressing gown, but little else to clutter the boards— and little else is needed as the solo performer brings a tremendous deal to the table, encouraging the audience to engage with their imaginations and embark upon the tale with him.

While Phil Gallagher’s aesthetic looks a bit more on the “ghost of crazed Abraham Lincoln”, you get the notion right from the off that he will be Master Charles Dickens, storyteller and narrator for the evening. And when he begins the tale, with his lilting and smooth British voice, you almost wish you had a piping hot mug of Smoking Bishop, blazing down your throat and warming your fingers as you tune in with eyes and ears. The way that Director Sherrionne Brown and Phil Gallagher have adapted the tale follows along the line of what one might hope to see from a one-man Christmas Carol. Gallagher begins with the iconic line “…Marley was dead to begin with…” and it’s immediately off to the races— including everything from the strange debate of ‘doornail vs coffin-nail’ and then some all the way through to the end. (As previously mentioned, we go to the lighthouse— so buckle up and hold onto your Fezziwig!)

You’ll gain contact exhaustion from watching Phil Gallagher dance his feverish dance of dozens of characters all throughout the performance. Not only does Gallagher narrate as Dickens, but every character encountered upon the way— be it Scrooge himself, the spirits, and the numerous Cratchits— becomes a unique incarnation upon the stage. Gallagher shifts his vocal intonation, his cadence and delivery, as well as making several physical adjustments to things like stance, posture, gait, and overall gesticulations. There are moments when some of the characters start to resemble one another in either physical stature or vocal affectation, but this seems like an insurmountable task even to the great late Charles Dickens and when the characters find themselves in kinship with a portrayal from just moments ago, one doesn’t mind it, hardly even notices it. The only complaint one might make to this performance is that there are times when Phil Gallagher’s volume drops too low to be heard properly or trails off at the end of a sentence. This happens mostly when a somber or ‘quiet’ section of text has come to pass and is infrequent enough that for the most part, it can be forgiven.

Gallagher does a fine job of balancing humor and sobriety in this performance. When taking up the role of the little boy seen from the window at the end, Gallagher is fidgeting madly and picking his nose to give us the giggles over impertinent youth. When he’s speaking as the Ghost of Christmas present, though he cannot physically make himself taller or wider to fill the room, there is something in the way he struts and stands, bellowing with his voice that creates this blissful illusion that he’s all but bursting off the stage. There’s even a little bit of a send-up to Dickens’ turn of phrase, near the show’s conclusion where Gallagher goes to act-out a particular action of the character— “…crosses her elbows on her knees…” and this becomes a hilarious little bit to watch (giving us a nod to how even the great Charles Dickens didn’t always make sense but boy oh boy was he paid by the word!) There are so many nuanced moments in the performance that become all-consuming, drawing you into this richly verbose story, it’s truly mesmerizing.

Both Brown and Gallagher do a fine job of finding the balance of motion in the performance as well. There is great risk in a one-man show to have the actor’s body and face become a dizzying ping-pong match of back-and-forth in a too-comical, overdone fashion, and this is a trap that Brown and Gallagher avoid. (There are one or two moments where it is an intentional choice of whizzbang back-n-forth, adding to the humor of the dialogue exchange in those moments— particularly during the scene that features the businessmen during the ‘Ghost of Christmas Future’ and their squabbling exchange.) When there are major distinctions to be made between characters— like Cratchit and Scrooge or the ghosts and Scrooge or others featured in the ‘shadows of the past’, ‘reflections of the present’ and ‘shades of the future’— Gallagher makes them well known and felt with a shift of his tone, a twist of his body, even a wrinkle of his facial features. Phil Gallagher has you so engaged in what’s happening during the ‘Christmas Present’ excursion to Bob Cratchit’s house— with all the excitement, activity, and hubbub inside there (everything from the arrival of Martha to the goose, pudding, and toast)— you can almost easily forget that this story is starring Scrooge. Gallagher paints up such a scene with his delivery in that portion of the show that you easily imagine yourself standing in the snow, staring with your nose pressed against the frosty windowpane into the Cratchit household, watching silently as the gleeful chaos unfolds.

There are memorable and magical moments exactly like that one peppered all throughout the production. This one-man version is a delightful must-see. Even if you think you’ve seen A Christmas Carol, especially if you have seen it recently, there is something wonderful and new for you to discover in this performance. The Spotlighters production is giving the true gift of Christmas— a thorough exploration of this timeless classic— and is the perfect pre-Christmas stocking stuffer to enjoy with friends and family this year.

Running Time: Approximately 2 hours and 30 minutes with one intermission

A Christmas Carol plays through Sunday December 19, 2021 at The Audrey Herman Spotlighters Theatre— 817 St. Paul Street in the historic Mount Vernon neighborhood of Baltimore City in Maryland. For tickets call the box office at (410) 752-1225 or purchase them online.