“God bless us, every one!”
One of the most difficult things to do, especially around the holidays, is sally forth and soldier on when you’ve lost one of the great showmen in your company. Pasadena Theatre Company, taking to heart the time-honored tradition of ‘the show must go on’ is doing exactly that this holiday season and I can think of no better way to commemorate the radiant and outstanding memory of the late Chuck Dick than be bringing his adaptation for the stage of Dickens’ A Christmas Carol to life this year. Returning to Carroll Baldwin Hall, where Chuck Dick once adapted the show specifically for that space, this year PTC is giving it all their heart and soul, bringing lively memories to life, and doing Chuck Dick proud in their efforts. Directed by Keith Thompson, this miracle of Christmas will remind us all to hold our loved ones a little closer this season and keep the spirits of those we’ve lost through the years alive in our hearts.
In addition to using Chuck Dick’s original adaptation, this year’s production features nearly a dozen of his direct relatives including children, cousins, and grandchildren. Pasadena Theatre Company has always been about making families feel welcome in their performances over the years and this year that is especially so. There’s even a touching memorial tribute to the late great show-master tucked carefully away in one of the memories of Christmas Past, a most befitting tribute and nod to just how many lives the great man touched while he was living. It’s a heartfelt effort on behalf of PTC and the cast, worth enjoying this holiday season.
Ginny Marzoratti, Barbara Reichert, and Sara Swain bring their powers together to outfit nearly three dozen performers with costumes all appropriate for the Dickensian Christmas tale. Marzoratti, Reichert, and Swain bring brilliance to the costumes seen on the ghosts, in brilliant bright white, glorious, rich green, and dreary uncertain black, respectively featured on the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Future. A special nod to Abby Cassarino for her makeup design, particularly when it comes to the spooky design of the ghost of Jacob Marley! (Marley was dead to begin with, else nothing in this tale shall seem wondrous or fantastical!) Keith Norris, wearing many hats of Set, Lighting, and Sound Design, really brings a level of wondrous spectacle to the production when it comes to lighting the visits of the spirits. When Scrooge travels— first to Christmas Past, then to Christmas Present, then Christmas Future— there is this wild ethereal lighting (done in white, then green, blue, and red, then haunting blue, white, and red to match each temporal shift) that twinkles and swizzles around the stage, crafting the illusion that they really are traveling through time. These lighting effects are accompanied by Norris’ otherworldly soundtrack, truly making it a wonder to behold. And the watercolor, bright and inspiring Dickensian backdrop hung across the stage ties the entire aesthetic of the production together just like a storybook.
One of the unique things about Chuck Dick’s adaptation is the call for live carol singers at several points throughout the performer. There are the London Carolers (Emily Dick, Hannah Dick, Ryan Dick Jr., Kate Hibbard, J.T. Hibbard, Ginny Marzoratti, Jared Regel, Sarah Swain, Tyler Swain, Anthony Konstantopoulos) giving a street ditty, which Scrooge interrupts. Martha Cratchit (Sara Swain) also gives a lovely acapella rendition of “Silent Night” at the Cratchit Family Christmas Dinner, and near the end of the production, Belle (Lisee Marshall) as nephew-Fred’s wife and Georgina (Ginny Marzoratti), Belle’s sister, take to singing a winsome carol as well. Of course the whole cast concludes with a warm and hearty rendition of “We Wish You A Merry Christmas”, rounding out the joyous sounds of the holidays.
Director Keith Thompson puts a clever theatrical gimmick into motion when it comes to bringing the ghosts to life on stage. While this year’s Scrooge brings a booming personality and boisterous stage presence (which would give dear Chuck Dick a run for his money), he is rather slight of stature, which makes Thompson’s decision to cast these towering, broad-shouldered men in the roles of Jacob Marley (Christopher Carothers), Ghost of Christmas Present (Brandon Reichert), and Ghost of Christmas Future (Damian Konstantopoulos) a very powerful one. It creates this striking imagery, particularly when Jacob Marley starts bellowing at him. Carothers does a fine job of taking up all the space on the stage, physically, vocally, emotionally, and it makes his scene most memorable. Brandon Reichert (for anyone— like me— who is a fan of Muppet Christmas Carol) is truly like the glee-brining Ghost of Christmas Present we all remember from that movie adaptation, except he’s put a thick Scottish brogue twist on the spirit’s accent (which at times is a little infectious and spreads to Scrooge in scenes they share!) Both Carothers and Reichert put heavy truths into the ear of Scrooge in their visits with him, and while Damian Konstantopoulos’ character has no words, his solemn gesturing, stalking about the stage, and generally looming over Scrooge is equally impressive.
You’ll note that the Ghost of Christmas Past (Camela Ebaugh) was not mentioned in the above-featured ghosts. Miss Ebaugh is slight of stature, a wisp of ephemeral being, which is perfectly suited for the role of Ghost of Christmas Past as what is the past but shadows of memory? Delicate and dainty when she offers Scrooge a touch of her robe to transport him to the past, she is a guiding figure, who takes a surprisingly dark twist as she departs our protagonist, laughing darkly in his general direction. This seems oddly fitting as this particular portrayal of Scrooge is coming to his reckoning with his sour ways early on in the narrative. And if our past mistakes do not torment us, how can we ever hope to experience the epiphany of change? Ebaugh is fair of face and voice and brings a delightful presence to the role of The Ghost of Christmas Past.
Of course the cast is filled with fun characters, even in those darker moments— like when everyone is gathered around inside Old Joe (Tom Delaney)’s Shop during the “future” scene. You get Suzanne the Cook (Jane Collins), Lucy the Charwoman (Barbara Reichert), the Laundress (Kathy McBee), the ol’ Undertaker (Ed Hopkins) and Mrs. Dilber (Lena Jackson) herself all there, prepared to sell ‘trinkets’ or ‘bits-n-bobs’ from— well, you know where. The brilliance of this scene is how well everyone channels their filthy cockney street accents! (And this is a clean decision throughout the production; those who can successfully pull off a cockney street accent do, and those who cannot, keep their own American accent and that’s perfectly fine.) The three biddies— Collins, Reichert, and McBee— are like a clutch of hens clucking and squawking over the gossip. But Lena Jackson’s Mrs. Dilbert takes the cake, not so much in this scene but in all of her ‘living’ interactions with Scrooge, particularly once he’s transformed at the end and she can’t make up her mind as to whether she should slug him or hug him.
This adaptation has everything— from Young Scrooge as a schoolboy and sister Fan (Aiden Ebaugh and Aubry Knepp), and even a darker scene witnessing Fan dying in childbirth (Scrooge as a youth even tells the Doctor, played by Erika Dick, that she’s useless for failing to save the only woman who’s ever loved him!), to the youthful man Scrooge and soon-to-be-fiancé Alice (Adam Churchwell and Elizabeth Churchwell, who get introduced by Rosemarie Chruchwell when she’s playing Mrs. Fezziwig!) There’s even sprightly Fred (Matthew Dietrich), who is the epitome of indefatigable Christmas spirit, never ceasing to invite mean old Uncle Scrooge to Christmas dinner, always making merry and wishing everyone a happy Christmas. And what sort of production would it be without a whole slew of Cratchit’s (making that well-earned pay-raise headed Bob Cratchit’s way by the end of the show a much needed one!) There’s the woebegone Mrs. Cratchit (Sue Becker), the eldest boy Peter Cratchit (Derek Regel), the middle children Marie and Lily Cratchit (Kit Hopkins and Emily Dick), Martha-the-singing-eldest-daughter Cratchit (Sarah Swain), Bob Cratchit himself (Paul Clary) and the precocious and adorable Tiny Tim (Riley Ebaugh.) The whole Cratchit family is adorable and fits right in when it comes to the transition between felicitous celebrations in “Christmas Present” to more sobering and harrowing mourning in “Christmas Future.”
While Chuck Dick may no longer be with us on this earth, his spirit was guiding Brett Rohrer in the role of Ebenezer Scrooge. There is something formidable and foreboding about Rohrer’s Scrooge, at least early on in the way that one expects to see Scrooge. His initial appearance is every bit the “tight-fisted hand at the grindstone; a squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous old sinner; hard and sharp as flint, from which no steel had ever struck out generous fire; secret and self-contained and solitary as an oyster!” (To lend myself Master Dickens’ words, if I will!) The impressive features of Rohrer’s portrayal of Scrooge isn’t how frosty he can be, but rather how quickly he sees the light. Right from the off when he’s delving through his past there is remorse and regret etched deep into the made-up age lines of his face; there is something earnest and raw about the emotional transformation he’s experiencing and you experience it early on. Of course by the end, when he’s found his epiphany, the level of gaiety and glee is simply bursting at the seams from Rohrer and he all but leaps into the stratosphere to show it.
It’s a wonderful Christmas tribute, a lovely holiday and family tradition, one that Pasadena Theatre Company has ensured will live on for many, many years to come. Bring your friends and family to PTC this Christmas season to experience the wonder and magic of a true holiday classic, and walk among your fellow human-beings during this festive season.
Running Time: Approximately 90 minutes with one intermission
A Christmas Carol plays through December 12, 2021 with Pasadena Theatre Company at Carroll Baldwin Memorial Hall— 9035 Baltimore Street in Savage, MD. Performances are Thursdays & Fridays at 7:30pm and Sundays at 6:00pm. Tickets are available at the door* and in advance online.
*Cash and checks with proper photo ID only accepted at the door. No credit cards at the door.
At this time, for the safety of all performers, theatre staff, and audience members, all patrons attending any production of A Christmas Carol will be required to wear a face mask from the time the enter Carroll Baldwin Hall for the performance, through the time the exit the hall after the performance.
