What a chilly evening! Havre de Grace is all aglow! Don’t it feel like it might snow? Such a merry season! Don’tcha love it so? Merry Christmas, dearie— time to go! To Tidewater Players’ production of A Christmas Carol. Yes, it’s mid-November, and yes Thanksgiving is still two weeks away, but gosh darn it in the infamous words of Auntie Mame (yes, yes, different show, I know) “…we need a little Christmas! Right this very minute!” And while it may not be the most spectacular show to ever grace the opera house stage (there were quite a few opening night technical hiccups, mostly in the auditory department…chalk it up to those pesky ghosts getting into the wiring…) it is cheerful, family-friendly, and inspiring the Christmas spirit to get everyone in the much-needed, uplifted mood this season. Directed by Sarah O’Hara, with Musical Direction by Levar Betts, Choreography by Melissa & Rachel Patek, and Stage Managed by DJ Flickinger, there are a lot of spirited and festive performances in this production that will have you saying ‘God Bless Us, Everyone,’ alongside Tiny Tim before you even get into intermission.

It takes a village, particularly at Christmas time, to get any community theatre production up on its feet and ready for an audience. Set Designer William A. Price III (who doubles up as the lighting designer) as well as Props & Costume Makers Becky Flickinger & Gay Lynn Price (Flickinger and Price combined their efforts on props with Price listed solo on costumes) all put forth valiant efforts in making the little shoebox stage of The Opera House look like a Dickensian village. And the hand-painted, individual houses and storefronts have that Dickensian flavor hands down. (Sight lines for the placement of some of the spinning flats, which cleverly rotate around to reveal Scrooge’s bed-chamber or the Cratchit kitchen, are a bit shaky as you can often see large portions of the back-stage wings and subsequently individuals moving all around when they aren’t on stage.) Most of Gay Lynn Price’s costumes are particularly reminiscent of the festive time of year when Dickens takes to most stages. The light-up affair featured on Ghost of Christmas Past, the stunning and ghastly togs featured on the Ghost of Jacob Marley, and the bright red ballgown seen on Mrs. Fezziwig come immediately to mind for sartorial selection successes in this production. Director Sarah O’Hara rallies the troupes, infusing every moment with Christmas spirit and doing her best to run a smooth production. The show finishes in just over an hour and 40 minutes and that’s with the intermission; O’Hara and her team does it all in one night (just like the spirits) and all two weeks before Thanksgiving too!

Having a live pit— headed by the Dickensian-dressed Levar Betts— is a boon to any musical theatre production. At this performance, however, the pit was overpowering the performers on stage (the sound-balance and mic-levels in general are a persistent problem at The Opera House…though the nod to the OG-Dickensian source material with the fog-horns was a nice touch…), which led to some musical confusion, particularly during ensemble-heavy numbers. While the soloists were often able to over-sing the pit and be heard, the balance and volume and overall Christmas-cacophony was just a little disappointing, though it was still very exciting to see the potential that a live pit of musicians could bring to the show. (At this performance, the pit featured Levar Betts on keys, David E. Booth Jr. & Darwin Ray on reeds, Billy Georg  on percussion, Harry Schwartz on trombone, George Wesley Freeman IV.)

The energetic ensemble (featuring Jadelyn Ash, Madai Chardon, Mike DeNicolis, Kelly Divito, Elena Davidson, Lacey Harrison, Riley Harrison, Thomas Knox, Donnie Lewis, Michael Maistros, Alex Moskos, Gabe O’Hara, Jeremiah Robertson, Jeff Tribbitt,) has quite a lot to offer by way of Christmas enthusiasm. You get to see a lot of spirited performances— particularly from Michael Maistros and Jeff Tribbitt as drunkards on the streets of London, and all of the youngins— particularly Lacey Harrison and Riley Harrison who play Fan (Scrooge’s sister) as age six and ten, respectively and Alex Moskos and Gabe O’Hara, playing Young Scrooge at eight and twelve, respectively. Keep your eyes peeled for O’Hara and Riley Harrison, who double up during Granny Pickwick (O’Hara) and Granny Chuzzelwit (Harrison) during “Mr. Fezziwig’s Annual Christmas Ball” and become the cartwheeling chambermaids that just steal that number with their comic antics and cartwheels. You can also catch Harrison, alongside Kelly Divito, Madai Chardon, and Elena Davidson during “Abundance and Charity” wearing their gold and bronze velvet gowns and shimmy-sashaying in the background behind The Ghost of Christmas Present.

Gabe O’Hara, who spends a good deal of time playing several different characters in this production, has a really sweet and mellifluous voice that well-serves his verse in “The Lights of Long Ago (Reprise).” So too does Mike DeNicolis, who serves as both Nephew Fred and Young Scrooge (featured in the scenes with Emily (songbird Emily Machovec.) “A Place Called Home (Reprise)” features both of their delightful voices, and DeNicolis can be heard singing in the finale as Fred, lending his well-toned voice to the show’s cheerful finale. You can also catch Machovec doubling up as Mrs. Cratchit and playing opposite Bob Cratchit (James Meadows.) They make for a lovely little family during “Christmas Together” though the real scene stealer there is Elliot Lookingland, playing Tiny Tim. With a precocious and sweet little voice, Lookingland melts your heart (and Scrooge’s too, eventually) and just warms her way into the role perfectly.

A shining vocal star that gets to join the singing trio of street-characters-turn-ghosts really radiates during “Mr. Fezziwig’s Annual Christmas Ball.” Ashely Merrill, tackling the role of Blind Old Hag, Ghost of Christmas Future, and Mrs. Fezziwig, takes point in both the dance and the song during the aforementioned rat-tat-tat-tat-ball song, and makes it a festive number full of gaiety and glee. Watch her kick up her heels opposite Mr. Fezziwig (Jim Morgan) and get the whole audience primed for a jolly good time. You also get to hear Merrill’s voice begging at Scrooge in the beginning as the Blind Old Hag during that whole opening montage of Scrooge heading home on Christmas Eve. And although she is silent as The Ghost of Christmas Future, the harrowing and pointed looks that she fixes at Scrooge once her velvet hooded cloak falls away from her face, are truly spine-tingling and exactly what comes to mind when you hear that lyrics “…they’ll be scary ghost stories and tales of the glories…” from that slightly-more-modern-than-Dickens Christmas tune.

Where there’s a future, surely there’s a present. And though he starts life humbly as the Sandwich Board Man, hawking his ‘Mother Goose Christmas Panto’, The Ghost of Christmas Present (B. Tommy Rinaldi) is the jovial incarnation of all things jolly and good about Christmas. He even gets a jaunty tune, “Abundance and Charity” to welcome in the spirited season, dancing and prancing around the stage as he attempts to lighten Scrooge’s heart and open Scrooge’s eyes to the miracles and wonders that are Christmas time. With lots of well timed humorous deliveries of lines and the odd raspberry, Rinaldi is an excellent casting choice for this larger-than-life persona. The voluminous green cloak and lit wreath upon his crown are bonus touches to the exuberance of the character.

Truly twinkling his way into the eponymous role of ‘Lamplighter’ (and by trade, ‘shedding light on the past’) Jude Mahoney is a radiant bulb of blinking bliss playing this role and the Ghost of Christmas Past. And not just because his costume has angelic Christmas lights threaded into it. There’s a joy and indefatigable spirit that Mahoney presents when trying to show Scrooge his past, particularly when he flees the scene just before intermission (which has the audience chuckling heartily with his little ad-lib gesture and sound effect.) His vocals are sweet and warm, rich and radiant and perfectly suited for “The Lights of Long Ago.” And he’s nimble on his feet, when he’s not merely observing with glee all the scenes from Scrooge’s past.

If there’s one ghost with the most it’s Flick, playing the garish Ghost of Jacob Marley. Flick somehow manages to get not only the most involved costume of the show (between the chains, the makeup, and the little accessories that accompany that ghastly coat), the most impressive lighting effect of the show (making him look like he’s rising up from the fires of hell or the unseen fireplace from inside Scrooge’s bedchamber) but also has the most uniquely visionary directorial moment of the show. During a scene in Scrooge’s past— and before everyone goes hollering their heads off about holiday spoilers…the book literally opens “Marley was dead to begin with.”— when Young Marley (Thomas Knox) keels over dead on Christmas Eve at the counting house, Flick, as the Ghost of Marley, appears crouching over him, glaring with ominous foreboding in Scrooge’s general direction, waggling one his chains. It’s a profoundly striking moment— one that in the several dozen versions and iterations of A Christas Carol I’ve never seen done before— so very simple and yet harrowing and captivating. Flick also gets a fabulous song, “Link By Link” where he warns Scrooge about his fate if he doesn’t change his ways.

It has nothing to do— and everything to do with— Scrooge (Bobby Mahoney.) What makes Mahoney so perfect in the role is his capacity for dynamism and change. You get the grousing, grumbling, grouchy festering canker of a curmudgeon trudging along all through “Nothing to Do With Me” and the various other opening numbers jumbled together in the mélange of music and ensemble on stage during the first bit of the show, but then you get shifts from Mahoney. Subtle and gradual, but it’s like watching Winterbull’s ice-heart melt and it’s delightful. Particularly when he starts ‘dancing-in-place’ with Ghost of Christmas Present during “Abundance and Charity.” By the time Mahoney hits the salvation phase of Scrooge— his punch-drunk whooping, hollering, and hyena laughing will warm the very cockles of your heart with true Christmas spirit. And his voice is hearty, well-warmed, well-rounded, and more than capable of handling Scrooge’s various numbers. Mahoney isn’t afraid to express emotion either. And he finds little moments of hilariousness, particularly when shrieking out in terror at the various spooks and haunts that he encounters along the way.

So come get in the Christmas spirit— see the lights all over Havre-d’-Grace, see the snow fall on the ground! It’s a jolly time of Christmas cheer— with A Christmas Carol all around! Well, on the Opera House Stage at least. Two weekends only, get yourself a healthy dose of holiday spirit to kick off the Christmas season right.

Running Time: Approximately 1 hour and 45 minutes with one intermission

A Christmas Carol plays November 15^th 2024 through November 24^th 2024 with Tidewater Players in residence at the Cultural Center at The Havre de Grace Opera House— 121 N. Union Street in historic downtown Havre de Grace, MD. For tickets call the box office at 667-225-8433 or purchase them online.

To read the holly-jolly interview with Sarah O’Hara, as the Director, click here.

To read the holly-jolly interview with Elliot Lookingland, playing Tiny Tim, click here.

To read the holly-jolly interview with Steve Flickinger, playing The Ghost of Jacob Marley, click here.