The Midnight Train Crossing

This was the second time that I saw Christmas Carol. The first time I saw it, we were sitting way way way up in the top balcony and it was not so much fun. I decided that I wanted to see it again and sit in better seats.

The opening scene was pretty cool. They had a curtain with "Christmas Carol" printed on it, in impossible font, but it turned out that curtain was really more of a scrim. There were three people with candles behind the curtain, and they proceeded to light other peoples candles until it was a whole wall of candles behind the curtain. Then, they raised it.

I know how the story goes, and I know the opening bit of the book dwells on the fact that Marley was dead, but it just struck me funny.
Yes, Marley is dead. That's very important to remember. This is foreshadowing.
They had various narrators throughout the show, which was fun. You never quite knew who was going to start telling the story next. After his redemption, Scrooge joined in on the narration too.

I liked the permanent set, it had steps leading up to both sides of the stage from the orchestra pit, and an upper balcony around all three sides of the stage, then they flew in other backdrop parts, and brought in parts of the set.

They kept singing "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen", which I thought was a good song choice. I love that song, but I've always thought that the melody to that song was a bit dark. It set good atmosphere. The refrain "Oh tidings of comfort and joy" also fit nicely with the overall show. It worked well for sometimes being ironic, and sometimes being exactly what Scrooge needed.

Ebenezer Scrooge has been played by James Pickering for a very long time, and with good reason. He was great! I really could see the transformation taking place as he went from the mean old man to a nice guy.

There were some fun things with people being double cast. For example, the same actress played Scrooge's sister Fan, and his niece Catherine. Another actress played both Belle and Catherine's sister Lucy. Mr Fezziwig and the Ghost of Christmas Present were also played by the same actor.

I really think that Fred (Brian Gill) stole the show for me. He was very funny when he came in to invite Scrooge to his house for Christmas dinner. He never lost his good mood, even when Scrooge was threatening him. One of my favorite lines:
Fred: "We'll see you at 2 then"
Scrooge: "I'll see you in hell first"
Fred: "Half past then, but not a moment later"
Scrooge threw a paper weight at Fred because he was annoyed, and Fred caught it, thanking his uncle for the wonderful present. I think that was not exactly what Scrooge had in mind.

My favorite scenes in the show were the Fezziwig Christmas party, and Fred's Christmas party.

The ghost of Christmas past took Scrooge to the Fezziwig Christmas party, where Scrooge was apprenticed. Mr Fezziwig (Jonathan Smoots) and Mrs Fezziwig (Jenny Wanasek) were fantastic. I liked when she told everyone to come enjoy all the food… people kept parading it in. She listed it all off, but I can't remember it all. They had two big tables full and about eight people marched in with plates.
After making Scrooge his head clerk, Mr Fezziwig wished him a good future - health, happiness, and becoming too fat to see ones feet.
Mrs Fezziwig's present to Scrooge was to invite Belle (Katherine Strohmaier) to the party.
This led to a cutely awkward scene where Young Scrooge (Paul Hurley) proposed to her. Old Scrooge was quite annoyed at how foolish he was. I think he wanted to jump in and help. The Ghost of Christmas Past (Peter Silbert) just looked amused. The fact that no one could see Scrooge was something that amused me many times throughout the show.

The Ghost of Christmas Past had a great entrance though. He was the first of the three spirits, and when he entered the scene, he looked just as confused as Scrooge did. He was dressed in a sort of… 1700s style out fit.

I also thought that Paul Hurley did a good job as Young Scrooge. He also made the transition from cutely awkward at the Christmas party, to the beginnings of being the cold and hard hearted man that he grows up to be. I thought it was quite believable, and all it took was a change of clothing.
I did think that the break up scene could have been a little bit better done though.

The ending of the first act, and the ending of the time of the Ghost Of Christmas Past was cool. We had Scrooge's sister Fan (Elizabeth Ledo), Belle, Boy Scrooge (Jordan Horne), and Young Scrooge start to sing Oh Come, Oh Come Emmanuel, coming in one at a time. I think that song is another relatively creepy song melody wise, so it fit nicely.

The Ghost of Christmas Present, also played by Jonathan Smoots, was an even better ghost.
He threw Christmas spirit - glitter - all over the place and it was fun. Scrooge said that he did not want to go out with this Ghost, having had a rather traumatic experience with the first Ghost, so the Ghost threw glitter on him. Scrooge actually asked what the Ghost threw at him, and that amused me.
"Christmas spirit," the Ghost replied, "In concentrated form!"

First we went to the Cratchit house, which was a cute scene. First the eldest sister came home from… wherever she worked, and then Bob (Torrey Hanson) and Tiny Tim came home.
Both times, one of the daughters, (I'm not sure which) proudly declared that she mashed the potatoes.

Then over to Fred's house. Fred's wife Catherine (Elizabeth Ledo) had many sisters, including Lucy, also played by Katherine Strohmaier.
Also present at the party was another funny guy, Mr Topper (Michael Herold). He gathered the sympathy from all the females at the party by saying that he was such a poor lonely bachelor.
However, I suspect that neither he nor Lucy were going to remain single that much longer.

They were about to play "Yes and No" when the Ghost said that it was time to leave, but Scrooge firmly said that he wanted to play. He was also trying to guess the answer.
Lucy did not quite understand the game. After she asked a few silly questions, Scrooge said that she should not play any more.
Lucy and Mr Topper were more interested in each other than the game. A rather funny part was when one of them asked if the "animal" that Fred was thinking of growled. When he said "Sometimes" the two of them started growling playfully at each other. Fred quietly took Mr Topper's wine glass away from him.

The Ghost of Christmas Future/Christmas Yet to Come was played by Eric Bultman. He wore a mask that to me, actually kinda looked like Scrooge. Of course he didn't say anything.

There was the nice contrasting in funerals - Scrooge and Tiny Tim both died that Christmas. No mourners came to Scrooge's burial, and he was just sort of pitched off the stage. Tiny Tim, on the other hand, had his whole family, and Fred. I wondered why Fred didn't go to Scrooge's burial, but… it is supposed to be a nightmare for Scrooge anyway.

So Scrooge wakes up and frightens his housekeeper (Jenny Wanasek), she fears that he is mad, when he collapses in a chair and laughs hysterically for a few minutes. Then he tells her that for being out of practice, that was a pretty good laugh.

Out in the street he met up with Percy Smudge, who he had chased out of his office before, and told him to get the turkey, and gave him money for his trouble. Percy Smudge was played by Sam Skogstad and I thought that he was the best out of all the child actors. Granted, he also had the biggest part out of all the child actors, but still.

After a bit of hesitation, Scrooge entered the church, where he met up with Fred and finally met Fred's wife. They break into "Joy to the World" when suddenly Scrooge interrupts, "Wait! We're not done yet!"

Scene change to the next day, Scrooge is in his office, and he takes over the narration. It's 8 am and Bob isn't in to work yet. 8:10 and he's still not there. Bob comes in eighteen minutes late. He sneaked in and it was rather funny. Of course he got caught - there are only two people that work there after all.
And Scrooge got to have some fun. Bob stammered, trying to explain why he was late, trying to ask for forgiveness, but Scrooge would have none of it. Bob gave Scrooge no choice but to raise his salary. Scrooge yelled it twice in a rather threatening manner. It was quite funny.

Then the usual closing scene and the bows, where they invited the audience to join in and sing "Joy to the World."

And they all lived happily ever after.