No matter how many A Christmas Carols you’ve had to sit through in your life, you won’t want to miss Troubadour Theater Company’s jukebox-musical extravaganza A Christmas Carole King because (as any L.A. theater fan will tell you) when the Troubies do a holiday show, it’s by definition the most must-see of must-sees.

It’s December in The United Kingdom Of Hollywood North (where the weather is “all the way down to 68 degrees”) and Ebenezer Scrooge (Mike Sulprizio) is raking in the dough as head of Scrooge And Marley Christmas Carols. (“If You’ve Heard It, We Own It”)

Not surprisingly for those familiar with penny-pinching Ebby, this Christmas Eve sees his overworked-and-underpaid clerk Bob Cratchit (Dave C. Wright) once again toiling away at writing new holiday ditties only to have his boss give an ill-tempered thumbs down to “Ringo The Immigrant Snowman,” “Oh Little Town Of Bakersfield,” “I Need Some Hemorrhoid Cream For My Bum Bum Bum Bum,” and everything else Bob can come up with.

Meanwhile, over at the Cratchit home, orphaned “Filitino” foster child Paki (Rick Batalla) busies himself selling his blood and various organs to medical facilities (and random people on Facebook Marketplace) while his foster family–wife Ginny (Chelle Denton) and Cratchit offspring Martha (Janelle Lillian), Paul (Luis “L.T. Martinez), Mary (Beth Kennedy), and teeny-weeny Tiny Tim (Matt Walker)–go about their daily business, unaware that not only their lives but Scrooge’s as well are about to be changed by a trio of ghostly apparitions.

First up is beloved Troubies staple Winter Warlock (Kennedy), doing his Actors Studio best to step in as the Ghost Of Christmas Past. (“I have tools for this. I have tools.”).

Then comes Cloie Wyatt Taylor’s blonde bombshell of a Ghost Of Christmas Present, and finally The Ghost Of Christmas Yet To Come, a-10-foot-tall specter portrayed by a Troubie whose identity has been kept as secret as The Whistleblower’s.

Along the way get sprinkled in plenty of pop culture, L.A.-centric, and current event references, from Justin Timberlake and Jessica Biel to Rudy Giulianni and Michael Bloomberg to KCAL 9 to overpriced Silverlake (just $9000 a month for a hundred-square-foot studio apartment!) to A Noise Within’s competing A Christmas Carol (“It’s a hundred-percent vegan!”).

Carole King fans will delight in hearing their favorite ‘60s/‘70s smashes, from the show-opening “Believe In Humanity” to “So Far Away” to “Beautiful” to the show-closing “You’ve Got A Friend” performed by an all-around sensational cast.

Meanwhile, jukebox musical lovers will relish the many ways director/adapter Walker has found to integrate C.K. hits into the C.D. storyline, including “Chains” (because Jacob Marley and his girl-group backup singers can’t seem to break free of the ones they forged in life), young Ebby’s (Batalla) boarding school lament “Home Again” (“Dear Mommy, please keep my room as it was and don’t list it on Airbnb”), “It’s Too Late” (because that’s the way it is for young Scrooge’s relationship with his childhood sweetheart Belle, played by Taylor) to a retitled “Locomotion” (“Come on baby, do the Ebinezer”) to “It’s Too Late” (because it just might be past the time limit for Scrooge to change his tune).

All of this adds up to two the most entertaining hours you’ll spend all holiday season, brought to hilarious, tuneful life by adlib king Batalla, humongous-voiced Denton, offbeat mistress of disguises Kennedy, the always luminous Lillian, triple-threat boy wonder Luis “L.T.” Martinez, a commanding/comical Sulprizio, Taylor giving Beyonce a run for her money, the ever so engaging Wright, and above all Troubies Head Honcho Walker, who not only directs but shares choreography credit with Martinez and Suzanne Jolie Narbonne for one show-stopping production number after another.

Pseudonymous musical director Derick Finely conducts and plays drums in A Christmas Carole King’s rocking live band, joined by Ryan Whyman on keyboards, Mike Abraham on guitar, and Blake Estrada on bass, with Daniel C. Tator providing a pitch-perfect sound-design mix and numerous clever effects along the way.

A Christmas Carole King looks fantabulous on Christopher Scott Murillo’s ingeniously designed set, lit by Jeremy Pivnick with abundant pizzazz.

Even more worthy of oohs and aahs are Halei Parker’s supremely imaginative costumes and Narbonne’s abundance of wild-and-wacky wigs.

Last but not least, backstage crew Kendall Johnson and Patrick Steven Toth get to make multiple onstage appearances throughout the evening as assorted Dickens extras.

A Christmas Carole King is produced by Kennedy and Sulprizio. Corey Womack is production stage manager. Edwin Pleitez is technical director.

Like How The Princh Stole Christmas, The Little Drummer Bowie, and It’s A Stevie Wonderful Life before it (to name just three of Troubadour Theater Company’s annual holiday hits), A Christmas Carole King takes a takes a beloved holiday tale, stirs in an iconic recording artist’s Greatest Hits, and spices the mix with wink-wink jokes, topical humor, and adlibs … and does all it as only the Troubies can.

In other words, it is not to be missed.

The El Portal Theatre, 5269 Lankershim Blvd., North Hollywood.
www.elportaltheatre.com

–Steven Stanley
December 13, 2019
Photos: Ed Krieger

Tags: Charles Dickens, El Portal Theatre, Los Angeles Theater Review, The Troubadour Theater Company