A Christmas Carol @ Dallas Theater Center
Photos by Karen Almond and Imani Thomas
—Review by Martha Heimberg
A lone caroler begins a song of hope. Suddenly the lights dim, and the huge arena stage of the Wyly Theatre is filled with smoke, and the slam and whirr of a factory floor. Men, women and children labor in the gloom, pushing wheelbarrows and shoveling coal as the joyful “Ring Silver Bells” resounds through the theater, challenging the menacing grind of the machines. High above them, on the three-story set designed by Beowulf Boritt, Ebenezer Scrooge (Kieran Connolly) looks down at his weary workers and tightens his scowl. It’s Christmas Eve in the newly industrialized London of the 1840s. And so what?
Dallas Theater Center’s production of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol celebrates the 10th anniversary of Kevin Moriarty’s durable adaptation of the classic story. Once again, it tells us of the redemption of cold, miserly businessman Scrooge, visited one Christmas Eve by the ghost of his late partner Jacob Marley (Sally Nystuen Vahle) and the spirits of Christmas Past, Present and Yet to Come. The 90-minute action-packed play about recovering our better selves in a world that runs on the cruelties of capitalism continues to lift spirits in our own difficult times. Facing the increasing insecurities of a 24/7 global economy and a pandemic that won’t go away, we need a kindness booster as much as we need the latestvaccine.
Director Alex Organ carries us swiftly through Scrooge’s transformative journey, with dramatic contrasts of scenes and characters enveloping us. The diverse, 20-member ensemble passes close to the audience along the aisles, and climbs to the catwalk on ropes and ladders. Songs tell much of the story, and everybody in the cast sings the lovely, familiar carols under the solid musical direction of Gary Adler, who puts fiddlers and guitarists right on stage and into the story. Joel Ferrell’s choreography energizes the show throughout, especially with the swirling waltzes and traditional feast-day dances, all stomps and clapping. Jeff Croiter’s lighting design signals shifting moods swiftly, filling the house with light in happy moments. Jen Caprio designed the rich, colorful gowns for wealthy young ladies and the textured, smoke-smudged costumes of the poor in this visually stunning production.
Vahle, a DTC company member for 30 years, has probably played all the characters in A Christmas Carol—except Tiny Tim. Here she gets spontaneous applause for her wrenching portrayal of Jacob Marley, come to warn Scrooge to change his ways or suffer her fate through eternity. Jerking the chains of greed she “forged in life,” she pulls her former business partner close to her, holding his face in both her hands, better to convey the urgency of her message. Vahle’s ferocious determination to save Scrooge from such pain is terrifying and moving. She warns him to take heed of the three spirits coming to haunt him, and we are as shaken as Scrooge by the encounter.
Within moments, the Ghost of Christmas Past (a tender, smiling Tiffany Solano) is guiding Scrooge to a world he left behind. This kindly spirit watches as Scrooge joins the raucous Christmas party of his first employer, Mr. Fezziwig, played by Randy Pearlman with foot-stomping physicality and rowdy good humor. Scrooge looks on longingly at the happy dancing and singing. He sees how jolly Fezziwig gave all his apprentices the happiness of the season.
Connolly, reprising his role from a decade ago, was the first Scrooge in Moriarty’s adaptation. He is a dignified, all-business Ebenezer, a bottom-line industrialist more annoyed than angered by “all the blathering” about Christmas. At the outset he shushes a young child singing in the factory, and when his sweet-natured nephew Fred (an elegant Christopher Llewyn Ramirez) begs his uncle to open his “shut-up heart,” Scrooge famously replies, “Bah, humbug.”
And yet, we see Connolly’s Scrooge change moment by moment—spirit by spirit—as the evening progresses. His face softens on seeing the people he once loved, and by the time the Ghost of Christmas Present (bubbly Alyssa Melton) pops out of a confetti-filled canister, he is clearly cheered by her “fa-la-la-ing” across the stage, shaking a tambourine and accompanied by a French horn. He is first dismissive of his loyal foreman Bob Cratchit (a cheery Ivan Jasso), but when he witnesses what the future might hold for the loving Cratchit family and crippled Tiny Tim (played alternately by Skylar Johnson and Vivian Martin), his greedy heart is broken, and he vows to change his ways.
By the time Connolly’s mean old miser has revisited his past and been given a glimpse of a horrific future, he is so thrilled and relieved to find himself alive on Christmas morning that he whirls around his bed, spooking his wary housekeeper (Olivia de Guzman), who thinks her master has lost his mind—or maybe is trying to seduce her!
But it’s something quite different: Scrooge has found his long-lost humanity. The last scenes are filled with happy reconciliations, dancing, and singing, with everyone busy decorating trees and hanging garlands. And we learn that this 10th Christmas Carol expects to meet its cumulative goal of a million dollars raised for the North Texas Food Bank—all donated by patrons since this partnership began a decade ago.
Now that’s the true Christmas spirit at work.
WHEN: Through December 24
WHERE: Dee and Charles Wyly Theatre
