‘A Queer Carol’ @ Uptown Players

Photos courtesy of Uptown Players

—Martha Heimberg

Uptown Players knows how to party, how to laugh, and how to make heartrending theater. The mission of Dallas-Fort Worth’s preeminent LGBTQ+ theater company is “to present bold, thought-provoking and inclusive theater that entertains while fostering understanding and acceptance.” And the mission holds true for Uptown’s regional premiere of Joe Godfrey’s A Queer Carol, directed with humor and sensitivity by B.J. Cleveland at the Kalita Humphreys Theater through December 15.

What a fresh and moving experience to see Dickens’ Ebeneezer Scrooge in the person of the closeted Ben Scrooge (an arrogant, commanding Patrick Bynane), head of a major Dallas interior design firm. He’s every bit as cold-hearted as the 19th-century Victorian miser who won’t even put coal on the fire in his freezing counting house on Christmas Eve. Premiered in Manhattan in 2001, the play is a funny, touching retelling of the Dickens story from a gay perspective, showing us the transformation of a greedy Christmas-hater into to a joyful, generous believer.

Dickens’ words ring out: “Mankind was your business,” Scrooge is told, as he shrinks in terror late in the play—but in this modernized setting, where the characters mention familiar Dallas locations (and the miseries inflicted by the likes of Greg Abbott and Ted Cruz), things are brought home to us in a more immediate and visceral way. Scrooge tells Alexa to turn the lights out, but she can’t turn off Dickens’ ghosts.

Here, Bob Cratchit (a sweet-natured, self-effacing Quinton Jones Jr.) is Scrooge’s faithful assistant—never mind he gets paid practically nothing—and his employer doesn’t even provide health insurance! (Now there’s a timely topic.) Plus, Bob’s partner Tim is dying of AIDS, and there’s no money to pay for treatment. Scrooge turns down invitations from Bob and other colleagues to drop by on Christmas. Bah humbug, he famously responds.

Ah, but spirits await in the wings of the revolving stage, where set designer Dennis Canright’s smart townhouse interior alternates with other apartments, and a well-appointed central bedroom—with a queen bed, naturally.  

The most revealing and moving scenes in the play center on Ben and the late Jake Marley (a reckless, virile Kevin Moore), who was not only Scrooge’s partner in business, but his former lover. Scrooge is bullied at school and mocked as a mama’s boy by his alcoholic father. He’s played sports and repressed his sexuality throughout college, and is convinced no one is aware he’s queer.  Of course, Ben is terrified when handsome Jake approaches him at a company party. Unlike the adult Scrooge, old Fezziwig (a rambunctious Doug Fowler), his former boss, knew how to have fun and share the spirit of giving with his employees. And yes, they sing a rousing chorus of “Don we now our gay apparel.”

Bynane’s responses are always emotionally visible and transparent: when Christmas Past (ebullient Stephanie Felton presented as a busty Marilyn Monroe) takes him by the hand; when he smiles at the sight of bouncy Fezziwig; when his body freezes momently as he sees his younger self embracing Jake. Matt Holmes as Young Scrooge, a designer making his way in the competitive world of interior design in Dallas, has perfect posture and a tightness in his gait, but that doesn’t fool Jake. “I’m just starting out,” Ben says. “It’s called cruising,” replies smiling Jake. And before the first act is over, the two young men are no longer just colleagues in the same firm. They ruthlessly take over Fezziwig’s faltering design company, and in the process get rich. As time passes, their styles of living and loving clash dramatically.

The sharp nine-member ensemble moves in and out of multiple roles, enhanced by Suzi Cranford’s smart, well-fitted costumes and Michael B. Moore’s creative hair and makeup designs. Brian Christensen’s sound design and Amanda West’s lighting design aid the spirits mightily in delivering salvation to a mean old queen.

Isaiah Christopher-Lord Harris is a svelte, delightfully chatty drag queen as Christmas Present. Julia Rose Hartman is especially energizing as Scrooge’s droll immigrant maid Svetlana. Max Rudelman is a sympathetic Boy Scrooge. And Ryan Michael Friedman is a can-do-actor, whether playing Scrooge’s abusive Dad or a Fence.

A Queer Carol is a joyful night’s theater, whatever your gender ID.

WHEN: December 6-15, 2024
WHERE: Kalita Humphreys Theater, 3636 Turtle Creek Blvd., Dallas
WEB: uptownplayers.org