A Glendale landmark is reborn as The Nocturne Theatre just in time to treat holiday audiences to Madame Scrooge: A Christmas Carol Musical, Meyer2Meyer Entertainment’s fabulous new, gender-bending musical twist on the Charles Dickens Christmas classic.

With a story as ripe for annual retelling as the 180-year-old tale of a miser’s redemption, it should come as no surprise that A Christmas Carol has already inspired numerous musical adaptations (with songs composed by such luminaries as Michel Legrand, Leslie Bricusse, and Alan Menken), and Madame Scrooge is far from the first adaptation to give Ebenezer a sex change. (Susan Lucci, Cecily Tyson, and Vanessa Williams have all played him as her.)

But that doesn’t make book writer/lyricist Justin Patrick Meyer and composer Chris Thomas’s Madame Scrooge: A Christmas Carol Musical any less worthy of attention, particularly since its arrival marks the reopening of the venerable Glendale Centre Theatre as The Nocturne.

A sensational Stephanie Hodgdon stars as the stingy but oh so glamorous Eleanore Scrooge, who like countless Ebenezers before her turns away a pair of social workers (Rachel Franke and Chess MacElvaine) hoping for a sizable donation and a nephew (Connor Bullock’s Fred) who’s come to invite his aunt to Christmas dinner.

Worse still, she overworks and underpays her loyal clerk Bob Cratchit (Jonah Lees), only grudgingly giving him a day off for Christmas, all of which adds up to a despotic cheapskate in dire need of being taught a lesson.

Hence the spectral visits of not only her late partner Jacob Marley (Brayden Hade) but also the ghosts of Christmas Past (Faith Berrigan), Present (MacElvaine), and Future (assistant choreographer Michalis Schinas), sent to give Eleanore one last chance for salvation.

In other words, as far as plot is concerned, there’s nothing all that new about Madame Scrooge (or for that matter any other Christmas Carol adaptation before it).

What sets Madame Scrooge: A Christmas Carol Musical apart from its predecessors is a soaring score reminiscent of Claude-Michel Schönberg (Les Misérables) and Frank Wildhorn (Jekyll & Hyde) and a darkly atmospheric production design that ups the spookiness factor for both the audience and Eleanore Scrooge herself, a woman with a stone-cold soul in dire need of being scared back to life.

Song highlights include the hymnlike “In The Bleak Midwinter,” the gloom-and-doom-evoking power ballad “Life Isn’t Fair,” and the soaring “Content To Be Poor,” a love duet that integrates bits of “Oh Holy Night” midway through.

Tanya Cyr’s costumes range from brightly colorful to deathly dark, and those she has created for Scrooge’s ghostly visitors are feats of imagination bound to scare the living daylights out of Madame Scrooge, in particular a Ghost Of Christmas Future with six skeletal hands and a humongous horn poking out of its back.

Scenic designer Jay Michael Roberts makes ingenious use of the Nocturne’s arena stage as Eric Marsh’s lighting combines the spooky and the spectacular.

And just wait until choreographer Melissa Meyer and a top-notch song-and-dance ensemble treat audiences to 1940s-style swing in “It Was Only Business” and a “Fezziwig’s Feast Of Fools” reminiscent of The Hunchback of Notre Dame’s “Topsy-Turvy,” among other choreographic delights.

Leading lady Hodgdon is not only a charismatic, commanding presence as Madame Scrooge, she’s got multi-octave power pipes that can go from a legit soprano to a sky-high hard-rock belt in an instant.

Writer-director Meyer reveals his own gorgeous tenor as Eleanore’s long-lost love Bill, Lees is a cockney charmer as Bob, Connor Bullock is a statuesque standout as nephew Fred, Franke displays the loveliest of sopranos as Eleanore’s younger self Elle, and Hade makes for the scariest of Jacob Marleys, even in what looks to be a lady’s evening gown.

Kate Clarke, Renee Cohen, William Morrow, Nicole Alyse Nelson, Elias Schinas, and Samantha Tilley complete a talented, multi-tasking cast, about half of whom sport face masks seemingly inspired by John Leech’s 1843 illustrations for the novella’s first edition, a design choice that I found distracting, especially when unmasked main characters and masked supporting players (why some and not others?) appear in the same scene.

Veronica Mullins is sound engineer and Adam Cota is sound mixer. Micah Delhauer is stage manager.

As recently as last year, Glendale Centre Theatre seemed in danger of being sold and transformed into something other than the entertainment gem it has been for decades.

Meyer2Meyer Entertainment has not only saved 324 N. Orange Street from oblivion, they’ve already programed Into The Woods, Jekyll & Hyde, and Disney’s Beauty And The Beast for Nocturne’s 2024 season, with more shows to be announced for summer.

Madame Scrooge: A Christmas Carol Musical gets things restarted with a cheer-worthy bang.

The Nocturne Theatre, 324 N. Orange St., Glendale.
www.TheNocturneTheatre.com

–Steven Stanley
December 23, 2023

Tags: Charles Dickens, Chris Thomas, Justin Patrick Meyer, Los Angeles Theater Review, The Nocturne Theatre