Review: A Christmas Carol, the musical by Georgetown Palace Theatre
by Michael Meigs

Spirit, I have not been the man I ought to have been for this holiday season; caught up with the visit of family -- my brother from Tennessee for two weeks, then for Christmastide and for two birthday celebrations my venerable in-laws, my wife's brother and our two children with their respective significant others -- I did not reserve the time and space for thought and writing.

 

To my discomfort, I deliver this review of the Georgetown Palace's annual end-of-year musical extravaganza  A Christmas Carol, The Musical on the closing night of a seven-week run.  I promise, Spirit, that I will endeavour to do better, for I firmly believe that an important duty of the reviewer is to inform the readership as soon as possible after a production hits the stage.

 

Director Clifford Butler deserves a marshal's baton -- or perhaps a marshal's star -- for once again overseeing the small army of performers and technicians necessary to pull off an elaborately crafted, double-cast musical for the season.  The program lists 32 named characters, two five-woman ensembles of featured dancers, two ensembles of adults and teens (17 and 20 persons, respectively),  and two children's ensembles, each a dozen strong.  Even with a bit of discounting for those who worked in both the "green" cast and in the "red" cast, Butler was dealing with about 75 performers.  And with at least 50 in the production and house management team.

 

The book might disconcert Christmas Carol devotees such as myself because it avoids certain familiar scenes.   We never see Scrooge in his office, for example; the set-up and the character work for the opening occur in public places identified as the Royal Exchange and the streets of London.  After his transformation, Ebeneezer has to step out his front door to dialogue with the young man about Christmas Day and sends him off to the poulterer with a full two pounds in pocket; and there's no teasing of Bob Crachett for being late.  But those are minor points, compensated by the flow of the crowds, the music and the action.

 

For some reason the librettist felt it necessary to explain Scrooge's character by inventing a backstory about his father going to debtor's prison.  Charles Dickens suffered that humiliation but I don't recall any such episode in A Christmas Carol, which follows a linear narrative.

 

Designers and builders at the Palace are highly competent and imaginative, but for this production they really outdid themselves with the tall modular sets.  Something new was the use of video projections inside the modules, instantly transforming their appearance.  Remember the bit about Scrooge momentarily seeing Marley's face in the door knocker? With his video design Rich Simms converts the whole front of Scrooge's residence into the semblance of an admonishing Marley two stories tall.

 

Any stage piece will vary from one performance to the next, sometimes disastrously, sometimes to the delight of all concerned. Double-casting on this scale means that a reviewer can't deliver a definitive assessment without attending at least twice.  We did not, given the press of our own celebrations at Christmas time.  We were there for the "green" cast on a Friday evening.

 

Jennifer Tucker as the cheery ghost of Christmas past was a standout, as was CiCi Barone in the role of Emily, the love of Scrooge's youth.  They had fine, strong voices and accomplished stage presence.  Curt Olson was assured in the role of Scrooge, as was Larry Oubre as the Ghost of Christmas present, although they seemed a bit stiff at times.  I enjoyed the Fezziwigs as done by Michael Rafferty and Ashley Simmons, as well as Jared Hill as Scrooge's nephew Fred.  Choregraphy by Danny Herman and Rocker Verastique kept the crowds moving and generally in line, with few of the spectacular step-out moves they've used in other pieces.

 

Samantha Watson and Steve Williams are credited for conducting the orchestra, although there wasn't one, unless they were playing out in the Tin Barn behind the theatre. It appeared that  A Christmas Carol was performed entirely to a recorded score.  That technical decision, probably necessary, became an enormous disadvantage on the evening we attended, because for some reason the amplification was cranked up to head-battering levels, causing my wife to sit there covering her ears while the rest of us tried to follow the lyrics through the roar.  Had someone pushed a slider too far or turned a knob beyond the assigned level?  If so, no one advised the tech staff, for the problem was the same for the second act.  We were seated well forward in the house, for I'm always keen to be close to the action, but I discount that fact as an explanation.  All of the principals were wired with body microphones but their voices were regularly covered by the broadcast music.

 

A Christmas Carol demonstrated once again the extraordinary strengths of the Palace as a center for community arts, and this version of the redemption of irascible Ebeneezer preserved the message of the much beloved story.

 

On the same day that we saw this production Robert Faires of the Austin Chronicle complained gently of the overexposure of Ebenezer on Austin stages.  A search of AustinLiveTheatre.com turns up a full 50 articles referring to "Christmas Carol" since 2009.

 

That's okay with me.  I say, God bless 'em, every one.

 

Review by Olin Meadows for AustinOnStage.com, December 21

 

Review by Jilllian Owens for the Austin Chronicle, December 22

 

 

EXTRA

Click to view excerpts from the program for A Christmas Carol at the Georgetown Palace (LARGE file: 12MB .pdf)

 

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A Christmas Carol, the musical
by Allen Menken, Lynn Ahrens, Mark Okrent
Georgetown Palace Theatre