LB Playhouse Keeps It Simple With “A Christmas Carol”

Before A Christmas Story, before the classic claymation of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, even before It’s a Wonderful Life, Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol established itself as a holiday staple and remains perhaps the all-time classic. You know the story: Scrooge, rich in pocket but poor of heart, is shown the error of his ways via a series of visitations, then turns it all around in the St. Nick of time, and “God bless us, everyone!”

For better or for worse, Long Beach Playhouse’s straightforward, minimalist approach delivers no surprises. But if all you want is your Dickens fix this season, you’ll get your money’s worth.

Although director Aurora Culver’s adaptation is relatively faithful to Dickens’s text, she has nonetheless interpolated some of her own content, additions that render certain narrative details — such as the specifics of the parlor game How, Where and When that Scrooge (Bob Fetes) and the Ghost of Christmas Present watch Freddie (David Daniel Espinoza) and friends play — more fit for the stage and blend seamlessly with the facts and spirit of the original.

Although Culver preserves the narrative introduction and coda, along with a couple of choice bits here and there, Culver has otherwise reduced the narrator’s role (played by Tyler Below) to a minimum. Purists might have a legitimate quibble here, as its Dickens’s narrative voice — more than the action itself — that sets the original story’s tone.

But of course this is Scrooge’s story. As the central piece of the puzzle, Fetes is solid in both his humbuggery and his coming to see the light. Otherwise, Shabar Rouse (as Bob Cratchit) is probably the standout, simply because he gives us a couple of quirky moments in a production that probably has too few of them. But Rouse also exemplifies a casting problem: too much doubling with too little to differentiate the roles. When Rouse pops up later as a minor character, there’s nothing in his dress, manner, or speech to make it clear he’s not Cratchit — which is a role that shouldn’t be doubled, anyway. A few extra actors would have alleviated not only this problem but provided for a more convincing atmosphere during the party scenes.

Another minor complaint — and this one carries over from the Playhouse’s 2019 production — concerns the Ghost of Christmas Future, portrayed by the same simple but fine-looking giant marionette they used back then. Lacking any sort of lighting cue or element, when it first appears we can barely discern its black outline from its shadowy black recess; and although we can see it a bit better as the scene rolls on, there’s never enough for it to grab us the way it should.

Culver’s best directorial work is blocking the scenes where Scrooge and the first two ghosts visit Christmases past and present. There’s a real poignance, for example, in seeing Scrooge’s lost love (Kat Maitre) breaking up with acquisitive young Scrooge (Michael Frankeny), her back to the latter while old Scrooge stands directly in front of her. Sometimes a little stagecraft goes a long way.

Every December Long Beach Playhouse mounts a Christmas show, and more often than not it’s this one. It’s a nice tradition, if for no other reason than to remind us “to open [our] shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people below [us] as if they really were fellow-passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys.”

And considering the state of our world today, we definitely need reminding.

A Christmas Carol at Long Beach Playhouse
Times: Thurs–Sat 8:00 p.m., Sun 2:00 p.m.
The show runs through Dec. 19
Cost: $14 to $24; $10 to watch virtually
Details: (562) 494-1014; LBplayhouse.org
Venue: 5021 E. Anaheim St., Long Beach

Note: Upon entry all patrons must a) provide proof of COVID-19 vaccination or a negative test result from within the past 72 hours; and b) wear a facemask within the facility.