REVIEW: A tale of two 'Carols': North Coast Rep, Cygnet offer two different takes on Dickens' classic

By ANNE MARIE WELSH - For the North County Times | Wednesday, December 10, 2008 1:04 PM PST ∞

During these lean times, with even the "change" president promising things will get worse before they get better, Scrooge's cold-hearted questions ring louder than ever: "Are there no workhouses? Are there no prisons?"

The bitter miser of Charles Dickens' classic tale changes his tune, of course, after undergoing a profound experience of redemption. His dark night of the soul is brought on by ghostly visitors who harrow him to the marrow before he wakes changed on Christmas morning.

Faced with competition from "Grinch"-mania at the Old Globe in Balboa Park, the downtown San Diego Rep mothballed its ever-transforming "Christmas Carol" two years ago after 30 years. But other local theaters are giving Scrooge's change of heart its seasonally adjusted due.

North Coast Rep's intimate, small-scale staging by Stephen Elton and Cygnet Theatre's ambitious, often impressive new production by Sean Murray in Old Town differ in scale and temperament, though both hew close to traditions associated with the Victorian morality tale of 1843.

Murray's adaptation may scare you silly at moments, with the ghostly visitations culminating in the arrival of a massive, faceless, silent spirit that stuns not just Scrooge, but the audience. Elton's reading with Ron Choularton capering about as ol' Ebenezer Scrooge will make you and the children laugh, especially toward the end.

Cygnet's "Carol" marks the opening of its second space, a handsomely refurbished and comfortably equipped Old Town Theatre. You can almost feel director Murray ---- he's an accomplished visual artist as well as an actor, writer and director ---- gleefully experimenting with what this large, soaring space can do. The production, rehearsed while the theater interior was being rebuilt, has an air of being not-quite-finished and smoothed in all its interpretive details and its transitions.

Cygnet's cast is well-costumed (by Shirley Pierson) and wonderfully bewigged (by Peter Herman), though the roster of 14 actors has a couple of weak spots. Veteran Jim Chovick's interpretation of Scrooge is limited in its emotional colors. He makes a glum, grumbling, growling old man, most potent as he throws himself at the mercy of Providence before he changes (and tap-dances a bit) at the end.

Cygnet's Cratchit family and the Fezziwig celebrants are each in their own way warm-hearted contrasts to Scrooge's sorry isolation. Annie Hinton robustly embodies and individualizes both Mrs. Fezziwig's and Scrooge's servant Mrs. Dilbur, especially in her speaking styles. Paul Kruse's expansive spirit (and charming dimples) light several roles. And all four ghosts, two of them acted by an imposing Manny Fernandes, are magnificent and chilling.

Murray chose his technical collaborators wisely; some of the most effective details in the production come from lighting designer Matthew Novotny, animator Tom Christ and sound designer George Ye. Christ's projections are carefully chosen, skillfully executed and subtly employed. His moving images pick up on spooky Dickensian details often deleted from stage versions of the story: a funereal coach-and-four speeding ahead and seemingly over Scrooge; a coastal lighthouse, howling winds and rolling waves upon which even fearful sailors warm to the Christmas spirit; a Dantesque dance of hellbred spirits haunting the nocturnal universe.

Sean Fanning's multileveled set at Cygnet has the right cheerless atmosphere, swiftly enlivened by a few props and Christ's snowy projections. The designers have obviously worked hand-in-glove to create the atmospheric shifts; what remains for Murray is to unify the cast, tighten the script and ease the flow of human traffic onstage. The period music already works well.

Both productions need a better door-knocker to introduce the supernatural elements or the story. Both fly in a not-very-impressive or scary door, yet this is where Scrooge's spiritual journey begins, when he first sees the ghostly visage of his deceased and damned partner, Jacob Marley.

At North Coast Rep, Elton worked with playwright Jacqueline Goldfinger's adaptation of the story, fleshing it out with more detail than it had at last year's debut and interspersing the familiar highpoints with nicely harmonized singing.

The script divides the narrative duties among a half dozen of the 11 actors, thus keeping the focus on Choularton's Scrooge rather than dramatizing the social pageantry around him.

Elton creates simple, effective transitions, removing the poverty-stricken Cratchit family's tabletop, for instance, and during a few lines of song, replacing it with the finer candles and lace of the upper-class home of Fred, Scrooge's genial nephew. He telegraphs other dramatic highpoints fluently. We see, as if from the corner of an eye, young Scrooge's sister gift him her brooch, which he gives to his fiance, Belle, and which she returns to him in a flashback before he hands it lovingly to his niece's wife at the end.

Choularton's the kind of rangy character actor born to play a character like Scrooge; he looks completely at home in his muttonchops, nightshirt and stocking cap, prowling London with the ghosts.

Brian Mackey is especially appealing as Fred and in other smaller parts. Susan Denaker morphs gracefully through several maternal roles. And except for a cheesy-looking evergreen crown he wears as the Ghost of Christmas Present, Von Schauer captures the spirit of contrasting ghosts. Also solid is the experienced child actor Austyn Myers as the mysterious Ghost of Christmas Past (who arrives onstage in the most surprising of ways) and a variety of children.

Parts of the story are rushed or skipped in this production that clocks in at under 90 minutes. The Fezziwigs barely dance at all. The Cratchits race through their dinner scene. And we never see embodiments of Scrooge in his younger years. A little lingering in both present and past wouldn't add too many minutes to the show, and would turn up the heat in a production already focused on humor and heart.

---

North Coast Rep's "A Christmas Carol"

When: 7 p.m. Wednesdays-Fridays; 2 and 6 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays; plus 2 and 7 p.m. Dec. 23; noon Dec. 24; through Dec. 27

Where: North Coast Repertory Theatre, 987D Lomas Santa Fe Drive, Solana Beach

Tickets: $30, general; $27, seniors, military, students with ID; $15, children 15 and under

Phone: (858) 481-1055

Web: www.northcoastrep.org

---

Cygnet Theatre's "A Christmas Carol"

When: 7:30 p.m. Tuesdays and Wednesdays; 8 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays; 2 and 7 p.m. Sundays; through Dec. 28

Where: Cygnet's Old Town Theatre, 4040 Twiggs St., San Diego

Tickets: $22-$38

Phone: (619) 337-1525

Web: www.cygnettheatre.com