You might want to leave the kiddies home for the new Broadway production of A Christmas Carol. Sure, Dickens’ classic has proven itself to be time-honored children’s entertainment in its untold number of cinematic and theatrical incarnations over the years. But this version, beginning with a deafening sudden noise so startling that you’ll jump out of your seats (you’re welcome for the warning), emphasizes the ghost story at the heart of the tale. This is A Christmas Carol so dark and spooky it would be equally at home during the Halloween season.
Of course, you may be feeling some A Christmas Carol fatigue, since there was another far more jolly, uplifting version staged by Jack Thorne seen on Broadway just a few years ago. But that rendition required a large cast; in this production presented at Los Angeles’ Geffen Playhouse in 2018 (and also in a filmed version streamed two years later), there’s only one actor onstage.
Fortunately, that actor is Tony Award-winner Jefferson Mays, who, as he demonstrated in I Am My Own Wife and A Gentleman’s Guide to Murder, isn’t content to play but one character when he can play many more. Here, he plays more than 50 characters while also assuming the role of narrator, and thanks to his acting wizardry, you’re never once confused as to who is who. He changes characterizations at the drop of a hat with subtle and sometimes not-so-subtle manipulations of his voice and body, aided by tremendously effective lighting and sound effects, delivering a virtuosic turn that proves mesmerizing in its actorly skill and intensity.
[Read David Finkle’s ★★★★★ review here.]
Thanks to the sterling contributions of director Michael Arden (a two-Time Tony nominee for Once on This Island and Spring Awakening), scenic and costume designer Dane Laffrey, lighting designer Ben Stanton, sound designer Joshua D. Reid, and projection designer Lucy Mackinnon, this version of the oft-told tale proves supremely theatrical. When Scrooge revisits his past and remembers a party from his youth, we see a projection of beautifully dressed figures in the background, slightly blurry as if they were spectral presences. For much of the time the action takes place in near-complete darkness, with only simulated candle lighting to illuminate the ghostly goings-on. At other times the set is bathed in red and green, the colors of Christmas. But the main color on display is black, suitable for the overall bleakness of the proceedings.
Adapted by Mays, Susan Lyons, and Arden from the abridged version of the text that Dickens himself performed many times, this version of the story may at times prove hard to follow for those not familiar with it (although who that would be is hard to imagine). Younger children in particular may have a tough time, as evidenced by the wailing of one tyke at the preview performance whose parents apparently hadn’t bothered to find out specifics before purchasing tickets. And of course, if you’re allergic to one-person shows, this won’t be for you.
There are also some technical issues. Unless you have decent seats, you may occasionally have trouble making out what’s going on in the darkness, and some of the torrent of heavily accented verbiage may be lost. Personally, I could have done without the insertion of a recorded song by Sufjan Stevens, which jolted me out of the Victorian era mood.
But those are minor quibbles about the transfixing production with its virtuosic solo performance (another actor, Danny Gardner, appears briefly as “The Spectre”) and dazzling stage wizardry that would give Harry Potter a run for his money. This Christmas Carol may not be the most exuberant or sentimental one you’ve ever encountered, but it will certainly prove one of the most memorable.
A Christmas Carol opened November 21, 2022, at the Nederlander Theatre and runs through January 1, 2023. Tickets and information: achristmascarollive.com
