By Barbara Anne Kirshner
For a great way to usher in the holiday season, catch Theatre Three’s production of A Christmas Carol now celebrating 40 years of producing this perennial favorite.
What brings audiences back each year to this Port Jefferson theatre to relive the transformation of Ebenezer Scrooge from a miserable curmudgeon into a merry, charitable gentleman? It’s probably the love and care the Theatre Three family infuses yearly into every detail of this show.
The audience is immersed in the holiday spirit even before the show begins with a choir dressed in Victorian garb assembled on the lower level of the theatre singing Christmas carols against a backdrop of holiday décor. Upon the final note, the choir files out signaling the audience to go to the main stage area where the show is about to begin.
Artistic Director, Jeffrey Sanzel, has played the role of Ebenezer Scrooge since 1990. When asked what brings him back to the role each year, he replied, “It’s a role of enormous range. Anger, frustration, fear, sadness, regret, hope, transformation. It’s rich and there is always more to discover.” Sanzel becomes Scrooge as he takes us through the dynamics of a tortured man who experiences a revelation leading him to a happy, humanitarian outcome.
That ultimate sense of kindness rising above human foibles might be the message we all need to revisit each year.
Charles Dickens novella A Christmas Carol first published in 1843 has been told and retold on stage and in numerous films including the memorable Alastair Sim version in 1951.
This haunting tale pits good versus evil with good winning in the end. The story opens with Scrooge, an ageing miser, quick to condemn Christmas and anything deemed charitable. He rejects a dinner invitation from his nephew Fred (Steven Uihlein), scoffs when asked for a donation to feed the poor and mistreats his underpaid and overworked employee Bob Cratchit (Ray Gobes, Jr.) who timidly asks for Christmas Day off so he might spend it with his family.
It is Christmas Eve and Scrooge tucks himself in bed but is soon roused by the specter of his former business partner, Jacob Marley (Stephen T. Wangner), who died seven years earlier this very night. Marley appears from the nether world ingulfed in red light. He is condemned to suffer for all eternity tethered to heavy clanking chains with each link representing another sin he committed during his lifetime. Marley tells Scrooge he still has time to escape this eternal torment of no rest, no peace. He informs Scrooge that he will be visited by three spirits, the Ghost of Christmas Past (Cassidy Rose O’Brien), the Ghost of Christmas Present (Scott Hofer) and the Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come (Steven Uihlein). He warns Scrooge to heed their words so he might escape the fate that he now must endure through all eternity. Wanger delivers a terrifying performance as Marley. His seven years of constant suffering appear so pronounced in each movement and facial expression that Scrooge would be a fool not to heed his warning.
Even before Scrooge can shrug off the ghost of Marley as just a bad dream, O’Brien’s Christmas Past appears. She is a gorgeous icy vision draped in a white Victorian gown with tiny sparkles that shimmer as she walks. She takes full control of each scene forcing Scrooge to relive his wretched childhood sequestered to a boarding school. It is revealed that his mother died while giving birth to him causing his father to be unable to bare the sight of the boy. He sits all alone even on Christmas. Enter his sister, Fan, played with compassion by Ash Stalker. She gives young Scrooge the gift of a snow globe and the surprise that he is coming home for the holidays permanently. But this home visit only lasts for a three-day stay before his father returns him to the boarding school.
Christmas Past then takes Scrooge to a Christmas party hosted by his first employer, Mr. Fezziwig (Scott Hoefer) and his wife, Mrs. Fezziwig (Ginger Dalton). Both Hoefer and Dalton fill this scene with so much fun.
This very night Scrooge proposes to their daughter Belle, played with charm and poise by Julia Albino. The engagement is short-lived when she confronts him saying, “Another idol has replaced me…a golden one.” Heartbroken, Scrooge is whisked back to his bedroom by Christmas Past, but rest is illusive as the Ghost of Christmas Present (Scott Hofer), draped in a velvet green cloak with evergreen crown circling his head, appears. He explodes in sardonic laughter as he delivers the message that we all have choices and those choices have consequences. Hofer’s Christmas Past fills the stage with his brash and bombastic character. He shows Scrooge the home of his humble clerk Bob Cratchit (Ray Gobes, Jr.) who struggles to provide for his large family, especially for his fragile son, Tiny Tim, (adorably played by Stanley Zinger) who without proper medical care will surely die. Gobes, Jr. gives a tender portrayal of a family man who endures much in an effort to safeguard his beloved family.
The final spirit, the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come (Steven Uihlein) is a frightening apparition towering in tattered robes over the cringing Scrooge and pointing to his neglected tombstone. When Scrooge asks to see sadness for any death, the ghost shows him Bob Cratchit and his family mourning over the death of Tiny Tim.
This is a death that does not have to happen and Scrooge is determined to change this outcome for Tiny Tim and the Cratchit family. With charity blossoming in his heart, Scrooge becomes giddy and resolves to mend his ways.
Director, Jeffrey Sanzel has assembled a stellar, large and tight ensemble with many actors taking on multiple roles.
Sanzel adapted this show for the stage with original music and sound effects designed by Ellen Michelmore and additional musical design by William Roslak.
Scenic design, lighting, sound, costume design and musical direction are paramount to A Christmas Carol and this superlative staff consists of Randall Parsons, Robert W. Henderson, Jr., Tim Haggerty, Brad Frey, Jason Allyn, Karin Bagan and Melissa Troxler. They have all joined forces to craft a feast of chilling sights and sounds.
Theatre Three’s A Christmas Carol is a joyous gift wrapped up with a big red bow and delivered this holiday season spreading goodwill to all!
Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol runs through December 28 at Theatre Three at 412 Main Street, Port Jefferson. (631) 928-9100. www.theatrethree.com
Photos:Steve Ayle and Theatre Three
