As many times as I’ve seen Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol on TV, I don’t think
I’ve ever attended a major professional theatrical production, so I didn’t want to
pass up the chance to see South Coast Rep’s 28th annual production of the
Christmas classic.

What a treat it was!

Lushly costumed (by Dwight Richard Odle), with gorgeous sets (by Thomas
Buderwitz), lighting (by Donna and Tom Ruzika), and sound (by Drew Dalzell),
South Coast Rep’s Christmas Carol is a production other U.S. theater companies
would be hard pressed to equal.  And that’s without mentioning the outstanding
cast, led by 28-year vet Hal Landon, Jr. as Scrooge and the vibrant direction by
John-David Keller. Oh, and there’s also choreographer Linda Kostalik’s lovely 19th
century dances set to Christmas carols and Dennis McCarthy’s original
compositions.

Opening announcements having been made over the sound system by Charles
Dickens himself, the stage soon becomes alive with color and light, looking much
like a Victorian Christmas card come to life with merchants touting their wares
amongst other Londoners out for a Christmas Eve stroll.  Soon Ebenezer Scrooge
arrives, demanding rent of an impoverished couple with the crabby words “You
pay, or you sleep elsewhere.” (The often funny adaptation is by Jerry Patch, and
not having the original by my side, I’ll give credit to Mr. Patch for the more
humorous lines.  I rather think Patch came up with Scrooge’s explanation for
getting ready for bed without a single light on: “I like the dark. It’s cheap!)

Buderwitz’s sets change almost instantaneously, quite possibly the quickest set
changes I’ve ever seen.  In a matter of seconds, we are at Scrooge and Marley’s
meticulously detailed offices, and then in Scrooge's bedroom, and then in
Fezziwig's home.   (At Sunday’s 4:00 performance, the doorknob kept at Scrooge
and Marley's kept falling off, prompting numerous adlibs, particularly from quick-
witted Nathan Baesel, as Scrooge’s nephew Fred, with a great physical reaction
from Landon’s Scrooge when, after having fallen several times, the doorknob
finally stayed in place. Ah, the joys of live theater!)

One of the special treats in this production are the surprise entrances by the
various ghosts, so if you want to be startled, skip the rest of this paragraph.  Marley
suddenly emerges through what appears to be a solid bedroom door.  (Later in
the show, Scrooge knocks on the door and it is indeed solid.)  The ghost of
Christmas Past jumps out from a tightly shut chest at the foot of Scrooge’s bed.
Scrooge has just lain down in his empty bed when the Ghost of Christmas Yet to
Come pops up next to him.  There’s even a scary moment when two spooky
figures, called Want and Ignorance, rise from out of the floor.

South Coast Rep has assembled a sterling cast, led by Landon, who is so perfectly
Scrooge-like that it is indeed a joy to witness his giddy childlike delight at
awakening a new man on Christmas morning. Daniel Blinkoff is warm and
wonderful as Bob Cratchit, and the three spirits whose faces we see couldn’t be
better—Tom Shelton as Marley, Richard Doyle as Christmas Past, and especially the
rosy-cheeked Christmas Present of Timothy Landfield. At the performance I saw
(the children are double cast), Zachary Diamond was adorably feisty as the boy
whom Scrooge sends to buy the Cratchits’ Christmas bird, “the one as big as me.”
(The adult actors speak in a sort of semi-British American English, the kids all sound
American.  An observation, not a complaint.  There’ll be no trouble for youngsters
understanding what’s being said on stage.)

Dalzell’s sound design is one of his best ever, with Christmas carols, bells, wind,
clanking chains, thunder, etc. The Ruzikas’ lighting sometimes bathes the set in a
warm nostalgic glow, at other times fills it with a cold and ghostly near darkness.
(The couple deserve special mention for the way they illuminate the ghosts in an
other-worldly light.)  Odle’s dozens and dozens of costumes are simply magnificent.

As someone who’s at the theater almost daily, it was a special pleasure for me to
see so many young people in the audience being exposed to how superlative a
professional production can be.  I am certain that South Coast Rep’s Christmas
Carol dazzled them as much as it did me, and hopefully will plant the seeds of a
love for live theater, or at least a return visit to Christmas Carol number 29 next
December!

South Coast Repertory, 655 Town Center Drive , Costa Mesa.
Through December 24.
Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays at 7:30; Saturdays at 2:30 and 7:30;       
Sundays at 12:00 and 4:00. Monday December 24 at 4:00.
Reservations: www.scr.org
(714) 708-5555

--Steven Stanley
     December 2, 2007
                                                                     Photos: Henry DiRocco