Seeing Ebenezer Scrooge get back on track as a decent human being has long served as a theatrical passage into the holiday season.
For the Portland Stage Company production of “A Christmas Carol,” which opened Saturday, director Anita Stewart has achieved a balance between professional actors and alternating ensembles of local youngsters in an adaptation that is both imaginative and entertaining.
Close attention is rewarded, as much of the narrative exposition is tossed around among a multiplicity of voices – young and old, high and low – as they come and go from the stage. Veiled choruses also help set the drama. When Scrooge admonishes Marley’s ghost to be a little less “flowery” in his talk, it humorously reminds the audience of the challenge of effectively staging Dickens’ prose.
Joel Leffert tore into his lead role in Saturday’s matinee, embodying the fact that, as his nephew describes, “his offenses are their own punishment.” This Scrooge suffers mightily, first for being a money-grubbing businessman with no feeling for others and later as subject to an otherworldly visitation that has him struggling with himself.
Caley Milliken gave her ghostly roles both benevolence and menace as she took Scrooge on an eye-opening trip down memory lane, all the time mocking his cold attitudes toward the poor. Conjured scenes of past dances and celebrations make for some of the most entertaining passages in the nearly two-hour show.
Michael Thomas gave his Bob Cratchit a comic vitality as he labors long and hard for the meager compensation offered by Scrooge. Despite the sufferings of his family, Thomas’ Cratchit engagingly presides over a large and spirited brood with his resourceful spouse, played by a vivacious Stephanie Ross.
In several roles, Larry Nicks succeeded at the difficult task of delivering speeches needed to tie together points of the story. Local favorite Ian Carlsen gave his part as nephew Fred his usual charge, and Emma O’Donnell charmed as Belle.
Stewart, who designed the set, keeps things minimal to better set off some striking bursts of color. Projected backdrops add a multimedia touch that might have been further explored.
The period costumes by Susan Thomas made the child performers, in particular, a treat to see, with several performing to a level that suggests they might have a bright future on the stage.
Hans Indigo Spencer’s music (directed by Shane Van Vliet), lighting by Bryon Winn and sound by Chris Fitze all serve to set the contrasting moods in this latest production of a holiday classic.
Steve Feeney is a freelance writer who lives in Portland.
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