Performer, reformer
Dickens still the star in Wells’ ‘A Merry Little Christmas Carol’
NORFOLK — Those of us who encounter Charles Dickens already dead and deified at the hands of English teachers might be amazed to learn what a rock star he was in his day (1812-1870).
The consummate popular artist, he sold copies of his 15 masterpiece novels at the rate of a Victorian David Baldacci. On his two American tours, he hobnobbed with superstars such as Edgar Allan Poe and Mark Twain, even venturing to Richmond, pre-Civil War, to see slavery firsthand. (According to David Perdue’s website, The Charles Dickens Page, Dickens, a staunch abolitionist, was horrified.) He was besieged by fans as voracious for tickets to his readings as Swifties are to see their Taylor. Among his fan favorites was “A Christmas Carol,” a cash cow for him at readings, home and abroad.
The title of Mark Shanahan’s stage adaptation of Dicken’s classic 1843 novella, now at Virginia Stage Company, also alludes to the 1944 song made famous by Judy Garland in “Meet Me in St. Louis.” Shanahan’s reference to the sentimental “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” is one of the only faux pas in this otherwise sure-footed show. The adapter’s choice of title (in which the VSC likely had no role, though it did select this adaptation) is unfortunate because the words “merry” and “little” together diminish and even infantilize the classic’s content and repute. Fortunately, the show itself, however, does neither; on the contrary, this production, featuring five fine Equity actors, reveals and fulfills Dickens’ fight for social justice and the VSC’s ethos on achieving the same.
How does this adaptation differ from Dickens’ traditional “A Christmas Carol”? Well, in Bob Cratchit’s words, it’s a “wonderful pudding.” It’s been trimmed a good bit in both senses of the word “trim.” It’s been invigorated with incidental carols, though they are secondary in importance to plot and performance. And Shanahan’s adaptation has some leavening: contemporary break-the-fourth-wall patter with the audience, tactfully hushed in the most dramatic parts. Rest assured that the Ghost of Christmas Future will still scare the dickens out of you, aided by spooky lighting and Steven Allegretto’s impressive sound effects, including “chimes at midnight” sounding from the rear of the house.
Jeni Schaefer’s costumes (with the exception of Bob Cratchit’s office jacket?) are Victorian. (Recall that the Wells was built only 11 years after Queen Victoria’s demise!) Dahlia Al-Habieli’s serviceable uniset is surprisingly nautical in feeling (wheelhouse to conceal the piano, ship’s wheel, etc.) but begins to make sense when one considers the Wells’ proximity to old Norfolk’s waterfront plus a brief section of the play’s being set at sea.
But everyone goes to see Scrooge, and Beatty Barnes Jr., reprising his role from last year’s production, never disappoints.
Barnes draws on his talent as a stand-up comedian to execute Dickens’ puns, augmented or emphasized by adapter Shanahan
(e.g., “no time like the present” said to the Ghost of Christmas Present). But even more important than comic chops is Barnes’ ability to pace his transformation from a man who despises the poor, turning down charity-seeking philanthropists by saying “Are there no prisons?” and “Are there no workhouses?” into a man who can promise to “honour Christmas in [his] heart, and try to keep it all the year.” The transformation begins as soon as his encounter with Marley, but it must not be rushed — comprising, as it does, the very backbone and arc of the story.
Barnes’ supporting players must likewise temper and time their interactions, which, adults and youngsters alike, manage with skill and aplomb. London-trained Sarah Manton shines as Belle, the young Scrooge’s first love before he’s seduced by money. She gets to deliver the ultimate breakup line: “Another idol has displaced me; and, if it can cheer and comfort you in time to come as I would have tried to do, I have no just cause to grieve.” Puzzled,
Scrooge asks, “What idol has displaced you?” She answers, “A golden one.” And she’s right. Scrooge, obsessed with his ledgers, no longer deserves her.
But Manton must also play Mrs. Cratchit, the agonized mother to the dying, then (in one possible future) deceased Tiny Tim. She also convinces in that part, and utterly.
The other Equity female lead is Meredith Noël, playing a charity-seeking philanthropic lady, Ebeneezer’s doomed sister, Fan, and, most arrestingly, the
Ghost of Christmas Present. Noël, a Norfolk State University and University of Missouri—Kansas City theater graduate, reprises her role as well, but it’s just one of a half dozen VSC show credits she’s amassed. The male roles (plus one feisty female housekeeper) are nicely shared by Equity members Dustin Sullivan, a sometime part of the Reduced Shakespeare Company, and David Whalen, with a resume of over 100 regional plays, plus TV and films.
Music director Refiye Tappan steps from the keyboard to also play a
couple of mean Dickensian men. Though Noël and Mantan sing individual carols well, the music as a whole is handled with a sense of neighborly amateurism, homemade music for the holidays. Manton, for example, plays violin either solo or with Tappan’s keyboard, accordion, and/or recorder. Also contributing to the relaxed, homemade vibe are the performances of two young actors. First, there’s Mesgana Jackson, a Nansemond River ninth grader also at the Governor’s School for the Arts and also returning to her role from last year. She plays a credible Ghost of Christmas Past, Boy, Martha Cratchit and the allegorical figure Ignorance. Even younger, and also a veteran of last year’s production, is Adalee Alt, now a sixth grader at Hickory Middle School in Chesapeake. She plays Little Fezziwig, an indispensably natural Tiny Tim, and the also allegorical figure of Want.
When the figures of Ignorance and Want show up toward the end of the play, Scrooge, deeply moved by their appearance, begins
the following exchange: “Spirit! are they yours?” ‘They are Man’s,’ said the Spirit, looking down upon them. …This boy is Ignorance. This girl is Want. Beware them both, and all of their degree, but most beware this boy, for on his brow I see that written which is doom, unless the writing be erased.’ ”
This sobering aspect of Dickens’ Christmas message — that ignorance threatens all human progress — is far from “merry” and far from “little.”
It is balanced, by the familiar, comforting exit line: “God bless Us, Every One!” Both faces of Dickens — reformer and crowd-pleasing performer — make him the artist he was.
IF YOU GO
When: Through Dec. 31 Where: The Wells Theatre, 108 E. Tazewell St., Norfolk Tickets: Start at $25 Details: 757-627-1234, vastage.org