You remember that famous Scrooge guy, who says endearing things like "A friend is merely an enemy you haven't known long enough."
Guess what, he’s back at The Old Globe again, to amuse, horrify and fascinate you for a very fast, extremely funny 70 minutes of misanthropy and Christmas cheer. The novella’s time frame has been moved up not quite two centuries so we can hear comments like “Tell the Padres they came close. They could do it this year.”
Playwrights Gordon Greenberg and Steve Rosen started the whole thing in 2017 in Pennsylvania. The Globe’s Artistic Director Barry Edelstein saw it there and asked if they could tailor it to San Diego, et voilà.
Bill Buell plays the old geezer, busy grousing around as usual when his clerk Bob Cratchit (Christopher M. Ramirez) timidly asks to be allowed to leave a few hours early on Christmas Eve.
“We work till 8:45 every day, Bob,” is the answer.
Five actors – four playing multiple roles and Bill Buell playing Scrooge – illustrate the story of the grouch who goes home, eats meagerly and gets ready for bed (wait till you see this!) and crawls in. When Marley’s ghost shows up, a click is heard, and a disembodied voice says “bed chamber secured.” Eek.
The ghosts of Christmases past, present and flitter in and out, and Scrooge is forced to see his unhappy past, when his school picked a chair instead of him for the cricket team.
On the other hand, he worked for Mr. Fezzi, who made great wigs. That wasn’t an awful experience. But then he loses his true love Lavinia, who sails off to America without him.
Only when he finally gets the message, and sends a passing boy to buy a huge turkey to give away, do things start to get better. And when the Palo Altos quartet starts to sing, things almost get jolly.
The story is familiar, but the presentation is definitely not, and that’s the reason to see this production. The actors are excellent and about as versatile a group as I’ve ever seen. The props and costumes are great, and everybody gets to leave singing a song.
Can’t get much better than that.
The details
“Ebenezer Scrooge’s BIG San Diego Christmas Show” plays through Dec. 24, 2022 at The Old Globe’s Sheryl & Harvey White Theatre.
Show schedule: Tuesday through Friday at 7 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday at 2 and 7 p.m.
Tickets: www.TheOldGlobe.org or (619) 234-5623
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