A Christmas Carol
Citadel Theatre,
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
To Dec. 23, 2015
Review by GRAHAM HICKS
How is it possible, after seeing a show on 16 consecutive opening nights, that one is still reduced to tears and gentle sobs of happiness/joy/sadness, at least 10 times through the evening?
Because it's A Christmas Carol, darn it! And not just any Christmas Carol but an adaptation for the stage by Tom Wood that is as classic as the brilliant book on which it is based.
It still must mystify its creators, Wood and director Bob Baker, that they produced such a gem of a production that it has hardly needed any tweaking since that original opening night on the Citadel's Maclab Stage in 1999.
Here's Christmas Carol, 2015, as popular if not more so than ever.
And if there are any rumours out there declaring this to be the last year Christmas Carol will be done at the Citadel, they are unequivocally, absolutely and utterly untrue, says Citadel General Manager Penny Ritco.
Why does this show get deeper, richer and more meaningful with every passing year?
Start with the Charles Dickens' story itself. Rarely has a tale - written for the people - touched such meaningful themes in such a profound, populist way. An archetypal story of deeply-rooted if unintentional evil in an individual, so much so that Scrooge needs shock treatment - three ghosts to pound the message home - to change his deeply imprinted grumpiness into celebratory, fulfilling love of his fellow mankind. Christmas Carol is a general treatise on "the meaning of Christmas" that has never been surpassed in any English literature since. Characters representing the best of man's qualities - Bob Cratchit and his family, Scrooge's magnanimous nephew Fred - are contrasted with the worst - in Scrooge, and then the best - in Scrooge.
Somehow Wood nailed all this in his stage adaptation. Somehow director Bob Baker pulled it all together into an elaborate, beautiful, deeply romantic stage production when it first opened in 1999.
And then, somehow, the Citadel's stage show has organically grown its own deeply meaningful spirit of Christmas. The dozen or more children in the show who clearly love every minute of this Christmas experience, the fact the 22 adult actors are celebrating Christmas with each other on and off the stage, means the mood in the Citadel reaches into the community at large and vice-versa.
One becomes so attached to this show that, when actors don't re-appear in the same accustomed roles, one briefly mourns. Wood himself played Scrooge for at least 10 years, and when he "retired" it took several interim Scrooges before Citadel actor and associate artistic director James MacDonald made the role his own.
This year, alas! Julien Arnold retired from the role of Bob Crachit. Julien had played Crachit every year except one (for health reasons) and in many ways, he too was the essence of A Christmas Carol. But all must change, I suppose, and Julien has turned the role over to the younger Jamie Williams who honours Arnold by portraying Crachit almost exactly as Arnold did ... other than being younger and more athletic. Julien was sitting in the audience on opening night, with one of the most complex facial expressions I have ever seen. How strange it must have felt.
Then, when change is not change ... Maralyn Ryan has played the meaty role of Mrs. Dilber, Scrooge's housekeeper, since time immemorial. She had back pains shortly before opening night. Her daughter Kate Ryan, through the years, had played Scrooge's first wife, Fred's pregnant wife and Mrs. Cratchit. Kate was asked to fill in for her mom. My heavens, the two voices and acting similarities are so identical that one has to pinch oneself to believe it is Kate in the role, not Maralyn!
Where else but in local professional theatre could one enjoy such a sense of connection with the actors on stage? Kate will now alternate with Maralyan in the role.
This production has become synonymous with Christmas in Edmonton. Yes, there are other wonderful recurring Christmas productions - The Albert Ballet's Nutcracker, The Singing Christmas Tree, choral groups, Opera Nuova's Amahl and the Night Visiters - but none have the grand vista of this show combined with the familiarity of both characters and actors.
Christmas Carol IS Christmas, and it's all the better that more and more Edmontonians discover the show every year, and, through the show, the Citadel Theatre itself.
If only 10% of the population has gone so far, good! It means the potential audience still is the other 90%, which should keep the show in production for at least another 50 years!