CHRISTMAS RETURNS TO REP
Trinity Rep rings in its 40th season of Charles Dickens’ ‘A Christmas Carol’
PROVIDENCE – This is the 40th year that Trinity Repertory Company has given us a Christmas present, so to speak, with a fresh production of Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol.”
Every year brings a new “Carol,” but this year’s iteration is especially exuberant, joyful, warm and, by design of co-directors Angela Brazil and Stephen Thorne, inclusive. It’s funny and fun-loving but keeps the sentiment and the message intact, making it new and traditional at the same time. As always, its Christmas spirit is contagious – and welcome.
Company member Joe Wilson Jr. plays Ebenezer Scrooge, the miserable, miserly money-lender who mends his ways after being visited by the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future. Wilson’s bigger-than-life
portrayal fits perfectly in this year’s context, from Scrooge’s blustery-cold disregard for everything and everybody at the start of the tale, through the wild-eyed apprehension and reluctantly acknowledged regrets during the ghosts’ visits. His Christmas Day redemption is hilarious, and yet has an underlying sincerity. Wilson is a most entertaining Scrooge.
One of the big discoveries every year is seeing how the ghosts are played. In the current incarnation, Anne Scurria’s Ghost of Christmas Past hints at the bewigged excess of Versailles before the French Revolution. Orlando Hernandez’s Christmas Present is a showy tap dancer, and the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come is eerie and a completely new interpretation.
Jacob Marley’s ghost, played by Daniel DuqueEstrada, is scary, too, but not as hair-raising as the year the little girl seated near me took one look and told her mother, “I want to leave NOW.” The slightly lower-key Marley might be attributed to the directing couple, who have children of their own.
Brazil and Thorne also are responsible for bringing true community experience to Dickens’ story about embracing our fellow humans. Trinity Rep has invited 18 community groups to perform alongside the cast. Each group will appear in three performances throughout the run of the show, including the Boys and Girls Club of Woonsocket (two shows on Dec.2, one on Dec. 3) and the Boys and Girls Club of Pawtucket (one show on Dec. 9, two on Dec. 10).
A group of costumed choristers from Progresso Latino Inc. blended in seamlessly on opening night. Also performing are: Dance for the Aging Population, Dorcas International Institute of Rhode Island, Festival Ballet Providence, Girls Rock! Rhode Island, National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) of Rhode Island, The Manton Avenue Project, Partnership for Providence Parks, Rhode Island Latino Arts (RILA), Seven Hills RI, Sisters Overcoming Abusive Relationships (SOAR), Tenderloin Opera Company, Tomaquag Museum, Providence Veteran’s Administration, YouthBuild Preparatory Academy, and Youth Pride RI.
The directors and set designer Michael McGarty have embedded loads of entertaining new details in the production; look forward to seeing how well a slide and a zip line add to the fun. Sound effects, from drum-roll accompanied entrances to an ominous hum as Scrooge contemplates Christmas Yet to Come, underscore moods; credit sound designer Peter Sasha Hurowitz.
Along with colorblind casting, this “Carol” features gender-fluid characters: Mrs. Fezziwig runs the apprenticeship, not Mr.; Old Jo, not Old Joe, is the fence who buys the dead Scrooge’s belongings. There is new music, too, directed by Michael Rice, that puts the musicians on stage.
From the original adaptation by former artistic director Adrian Hall, with original music by Richard Cumming, to now, 40 years later, there always is so much new to discover, along with the familiar to be re-discovered, in Trinity’s adaptation of “A Christmas Carol.”
Performances continue through Dec. 31. For information and to purchase tickets, call the box office at (401) 351-4242 or visit the website at www.TrinityRep.com.