Since it’s appearance over a
century and a half ago, Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” has been riced,
diced and carmelized for stage, radio and the silver screen. There have been
numerous iterations of the tale of the cold-hearted man of business who
eventually comes to appreciate the true meaning of Christmas, and just about
every male actor of a certain age, save Johnny Depp and Tom Cruise, has taken a
shot at the role. At Hartford Stage, Bill Raymond has been playing the role for
13 of the 15 years the venue has been presenting the tale as its holiday
offering, which means he owns the role, which means, apparently, he can do
whatever he wants with it, which means director Maxwell Williams has allowed
Williams to make Ebenezer Scrooge into a dithering, scene-stealing,
schtick-meister who is not above milking a dead cow for all it’s worth.
Whatever Raymond’s Scrooge was when
he first played the role, the iconic character has, in Raymond’s hands, become
a vaudevillian stereotype living from one piece of stage business to another.
Here’s Scrooge locking and then unlocking his desk so he can pay Bob Cratchit
(Robert Hanlon Davis) his wages. Of course, there are multiple keys and
multiple locks, and the bit goes on forever, with Raymond doing a lot of Three-Stooges
mugging. Then there’s Raymond sword-fighting one of the imaginary spirits that
his deceased partner, Jacob Marley (Noble Shropshire), will send to redeem him.
It, too, goes on forever – Raymond even gives us a moment from Star Wars in the
process. Then there’s Raymond eavesdropping on his nephew Fred (Curtis
Billings) as he hosts a Christmas dinner and orchestrates parlor games.
Raymond’s Scooge is so entranced by the games that he becomes delirious, babbling
to the Spirit of Christmas Present (Alan Rust), becoming little more than a
hyperactive child. Enthusiasm devolves, blathering prevails.
And what’s wrong with all of this?
Well, two things. First, Raymond consistently draws attention to himself as the
actor rather than the character he’s portraying. Second, if we are to be moved
by Scrooge’s epiphany, then we have to believe that he really is this
cold-hearted skinflint who would send urchins to the poor house. Just about
everything Raymond does is done with an implied wink, as if to say, yes, I seem
to be this nasty, cold-hearted creature but, wait a bit and you’ll see there’s
a heart of gold beneath this flinty exterior.
However, most of the opening night
audience didn’t seem to mind the mugging, and the production does have its moments.
The interaction between a younger Scrooge (again, Curtis Billings) and his
fiancé, Belle (Gillian Williams) is touching, and Scrooge’s maid (again, Nobel
Shropshire) selling her master’s clothing is a nice little set-piece, and
Fred’s party, until Scrooge dissolves into inanity, is engaging. In fact,
whenever Scrooge is not stage center the production evinces comfortable warmth
and moving pathos evocative of the original story.
As with most Hartford Stage
offerings, the production values for “A Christmas Carol” are solid. How can you
go wrong with flying ghosts, ornamented sleighs, a Christmas tree festooned
with lights and ornaments, thunder, lightning, clock faces whirling on the
stage floor, Hell’s door opening, a very large rubber goose, a bicycle-riding
winged demon and enough golden glitter and plastic snow to fill a hundred
garbage bags? Yet it all seems beside the point, for without the heart of the
story everything else is just out there for show, for the “Ooh!” and “Aah!”
value, making this iteration of “A Christmas Carol” a zombie. It walks and it
talks, but there’s no heart beating beneath the surface.
The show runs through Dec.29. For
tickets or more information call 860-527-5151 or go to www.hartfordstage.org
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