Just about every theater troupe seems to try its hand, at one time or another, adapting Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" for the stage. Holiday plays are big ticket-sellers, and the redemptive story of Ebenezer Scrooge is a perennial favorite with audiences.
So, for its very first full production, fledgling Vox Nova Theatre Company decided to get its Scrooge tale out of the way right up front. And artistic director Ruff Yeager's musical adaptation plays with the idea that Scrooge tales are a ubiquitous part of San Diego theater history.
"A Christmas Carol: Not-So-Tiny Tim's Great Big Musical," which opened Nov. 24 at 6th@Penn Theatre in San Diego, is a musical comedy about (not so tiny) Tim, a sourpuss termite exterminator who spent his childhood playing Tiny Tim in dozens of "A Christmas Carol" adaptations at San Diego Repertory Theatre, the Old Globe and La Jolla Playhouse.
Now grown and exhibiting all the miserly and curmudgeonly traits of, well, you know who, Tim is ripe for a Christmas Eve visit from Jacob Marley and the spirits of Christmases past, present and future to help him see the error of his ways before it's too late.
Yeager's adaptation, set in present-day San Diego, follows Dickens' story fairly faithfully, except the Cratchit family are now the Castillos, a Mexican family whose holiday feast isn't Christmas pudding but tamales, enchiladas and flan. And instead of a sickly crippled Tiny Tim, there is teen daughter Rosita, whose growing brain tumors have claimed her abilities to speak and hear. Also, the Ghost of Christmas Past is a lisping Girl Scout whose cookies Tim refused to buy the day before, and the Ghost of Christmas Present is a cheesy TV game show host.
All that is well and good, but Yeager's idea of layering on a subplot about Tim's traumatic childhood acting experiences muddles the plot. The idea starts with promise, when a trio of dead actors, weighted down with the "Christmas Carol" scripts they played in life, replace Jacob Marley as Tim's first ghostly messenger.
But the subplot quickly derails, with a slapstick flashback that makes no sense (something nonsensical about Tim's overactive bladder causing his castmates' deaths) and then the idea is completely abandoned in the second act. Yeager should either consistently follow through with the subplot and clarify its relationship to the main story, or dump it and focus instead on the modern-day adaptation.
Director Susan Stratton brings the audience into the show repeatedly with several sing-alongs, raffles and other audience-interactive bits. Yeager not only wrote the script and score, he also serves as narrator and accompanist, providing music and sound effects from an onstage keyboard as well as singing the opening number.
His 15-song score is pleasant, if not especially musically complex. The most ear-pleasing numbers are the ballads, particularly "Funny," a sad solo by Tim's long-lost love, Belle, and "The Night Is Long," sung by the Ghost of Christmas Present.
Fred Harlow leads the cast as Not So Tiny Tim. He's especially endearing when he giddily celebrates Christmas at the end of the play.
All of the rest of the cast members play multiple roles.
John Martin's a fresh delight in a number of roles -- including the joyful Fezziwig and the hip-swiveling game-show ghost -- and he's got the best singing voice in the cast. Jason Connors shows off his singing, guitar-playing and comic chops as Fred, Cratchit, Mr. Castillo and others. Jessica Lerner shows diversity in six different roles, most notably Belle. Ria Carey adds comic sass as the Girl Scout and three other characters (Jazzy Aburto plays Carey's parts on Sunday evenings). And Olivia Espinosa is heartfelt as Mrs. Castillo and three other roles.
The play is ideal for all ages, though its script could still use some work. The play runs two hours, with intermission.
"A Christmas Carol: Not-So-Tiny Tim's Great Big Musical"
When: 8 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays; 2 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays; 7 p.m. Sundays; through Dec. 23
Where: 6th@Penn Theatre, 3704 Sixth Ave., San Diego
Tickets: $24, general; $18, seniors, students, military and children
Info: (858) 539-6251
