A Christmas Carol

Reviewed by Holly Bartges

This could turn into being more of a confession than a review, or perhaps a confessional review.

Philip Pleasants as Ebenezer Scrooge and Stephanie Cozart as the Ghost of Christmas Past in the Denver Center Theatre Company’s sparkling musical production of A Christmas Carol. Adapted by Richard Hellesen, with music by David de Berry and directed by Bruce K. Sevy. Photo by Terry Shapiro

If someone had told me a week ago I would be knocked out by the DCTC’s production of Charles Dicken’s A Christmas Carol, I undoubtedly would have laughed out loud.

Having gotten to the point if I never ever saw A Christmas Carol again would be perfectly A-OK. Mr. Magoo, The Muppets, cheap commercials, advertisements, and all kinds of productions sticking to the traditional words wary not to scare the children fried it. My contention has always been Scrooge has never been Scrooge enough because “we don’t want to scare the children.” Water it down and everything about it turns into a limpid must-do-it-tradition.

It’s been three years since I ventured to the Denver Center’s production and I admit this year I had to debate with myself. Should I or shouldn’t I? OK, there’s music. Ok, the costumes are always amazing. Ok, it’s a new script, but how new can a script possibly be and still be called by its rightful name? The children are always cute. A character or two might have some sparkle, but a story run into the ground is still a story run into the ground.

Take an adaptation by Richard Hellesen, with music by David De Berry, choreography by Gina Cerimete-Mechley, orchestration by Thom Jenkins and Gregg Coffin, a large cast carrying artistic expertise firmly on their shoulders, lay it at the feet of director Bruce K. Sevy and A Christmas Carol rises out of over done ashes. The result: a striking, awesome, knockout production as magnificent as any Phoenix ever was or ever will be.

Philip Pleasants takes the words of Ebenezer Scrooge off of the printed page, recreates him in a new image, owning him. If he scares the children, Bah Humbug! Scrooge must be allowed to express his cynical disappointments and disillusionments in the only way he knows how, with a growling sneer. Humor plays a most significant role, but the humor comes from Scrooge himself as he stumbles over things that surprisingly amuse him, not because he acts like a deranged person begging to be laughed at without being taken seriously. This Scrooge demands to be taken seriously. Unless Scrooge can be taken seriously, the rest of the story is only an insignificant rest of the story.

From the moment the cast, dressed in colorful costumes appropriate for their characters designed by Kevin Copenhaver, build with the song “Welcome Christmas Day,” it is clear Scrooge is not a funny mean man, he’s a lonely old man who has shut himself off from the rest of the world, feeds his despair with growls keeping everyone away from his hurt. Not a day goes by we don’t see these people everywhere we go. Frugal, stingy, and demanding, he dare not allow his own feelings get too close to him, why would he allow anyone else’s feelings sneak by into his heart? The world is cold, so why should Bob Cratchet’s (James Michael Reilly) plea for another piece of coal bother him? Why on earth would he accept an insistent invitation from his nephew Fred (David Ivers) for Christmas dinner that only reminds him of the sister he lost a long time ago?

There are cracks in the Scrooge shell, and Pleasants expertly allows those cracks to show with honest believability. Little cracks, at first, with his curiosity in the small present Fred leaves. For a fleeting moment Scrooge shows mild curiosity with a glint of expectation. (Take a gift to a grouchy relative or friend confined to a nursing home, listen to them bark, but peek around the corner unseen and the barking growl turns into eager anticipation of a gift that for all kinds of reasons can no longer be shared with anyone.)

Seeing his once upon a time partner, Jacob Marley (John Hutton) in the doorknob turns Scrooge’s growl into honest fear. Is he losing his mind? Is he hallucinating? He has good reason to be suspicions. He has good reason to look under the bed and under the chair. Of course, there are humorous moments, but the humor comes from him not because of him.

Marley’s ghost is going to appear, everyone knows that, except Scrooge, but we don’t know when, where or how.

When Marley springs out of nowhere with smoke and bright lights, everyone in the Stage Theatre jumped at least an inch out of the seats. Forget about not wanting to scare the children. How about the entire audience?

Not a caricature of a gray ghost, Hutton provides a frank apparition of regret with heavy chains reminding Marley of what never happened and what Scrooge has to look forward to. Humor plays side by side with Scrooge. Some of the sharpest amusements and silly giggles accompany human nature’s greatest fears and tormented agonies. Harsh cold realities and laugh out loud moments are magnificently wedded in this production.

Stephanie Cozart’s Ghost of Christmas Past demonstrates classical theatre with her gorgeous white dress and confident knowing of what Scrooge will see and how he will react. Beautiful and direct, compassionate and realistic Cozart’s Ghost understands her mission, her timing, her rhyme and reason resulting in an awesome theatrical moment.

The Fezziwig scene melds beautifully into the schematics of Scrooge’s journey. Joyful, funny, with happy characters, Fezziwig (Chris Mixon) and Mrs. Fezziwig (Leslie O’Carroll) are wonderfully hysterical characters without being silly. Her song on the stool interacting with the Fiddler (Ivers) is sheer genius, a diva who thinks she can sing and can’t.

In a sleigh, dressed in green velvet with a crown of candles Ross David Crutchlow as The Ghost of Christmas Present looks like he just stepped out of a Shakespearian play. Boisterous, jovial, direct orders with a smiled “look about and see what is. Not what you wish to see.” In a genuine delightful manner throwing Scrooge’s words back at him.

In dark shadows, tall, covered in black, the Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come (Andy Jobe) glides with power showing Scrooge what could be. He doesn’t need to speak. Power lies not only in what Scrooge sees with his eyes, but what he also begins to learn from his heart. Pleasants allows us to see both at the same time.

Throughout he play narration of the story is handled exceptionally well with different characters interacting with each other sharing the story, a magnanimous technique keeping the action alive.

In all of the scenarios, Scrooge forgets himself interacting with those who can’t see or hear him. They are but shadows, and his humanity catches up with him. He joins in their games, their dances. He joins in the memories, loses himself then catches himself. Pleasants’ transformation of Scrooge comes naturally one memory building upon another. One can almost see the thoughts seeping into his brain, which is what makes Scrooge so real, so honest, so true to the depth of Dickens’ original story.

Every member of the large cast are actors with stringent expertise. They are not just bodies hiding behind luscious costumes. They are actors projecting characters with creative honest personalities.

This is what makes Sevy’s production so stunning, so breathtaking, cutting straight to the heart of Dickens’ original story, making it real rather than a pretty picture, making it more relevant than ever before in a time when relevancy is most needed.

I honestly never thought I would hear myself say A Christmas Carol knocked me out. Even if you have seen it a hundred times, you haven’t really seen Dicken’s A Christmas Carol until you’ve seen this production in the Stage Theatre. And that’s the truth.