Standard-Issue “A Christmas Carol” Still Reminds Us How to Be a Better People

Before A Christmas Story, before the classic claymation ofRudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, even beforeIt’s a Wonderful Life, Charles Dickens’sA Christmas Carol established itself as a holiday staple. 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!”

Yeah, I’ve used that intro multiple times in reviewing Long Beach Playhouse’s various adaptations over the years. Apt, I hope, because this year’s iteration is not trying to reinvent the wheel.

That’s not inherently bad (and to be fair, on occasion the Playhouse has indeed done novel things with Dickens’s classic). With good reason A Christmas Carol may be the all-time Xmas classic — and why mess with success? The wheel keeps us rolling along just fine.

But the biggest failing in director Lauren Velasco’s adaptation may be that the Playhouse is standing a bit too pat. Aside from splitting the narrator into a tag-team combo (Kayla Agnew and BJ Grip), ver. 2022 feels like paint-by-numbers Dickens. The mise en scène does nothing to dispel this sense, erring on the side of minimalism in every department (save costumes, which are standard-issue). And I renew a complaint I’ve raised in years past: although the Ghost of Christmas Future is portrayed by a simple but very fine-looking puppet, the Playhouse puppeteers don’t do nearly enough to animate it.

So much for the negative. Job #1 in staging A Christmas Carol is casting Scrooge, and Michael Paul King is a solid choice, cartoonish in the best sense without sacrificing feeling. There’s nothing new here, either, but it’s enough that the show’s beating heart is healthily pumping blood to the rest of the corpus.

Perhaps the best —and most original — aspect of Velasco’s staging can be found in some in minor, blink-and-you-miss-it moments. An early example comes when three carolers are shooed away from outside Scrooge’s office. “I told you we shouldn’t have come here,” they mumble together as they exeunt. “He does this every year.” Another comes just after Jacob Marley’s visit, when Scrooge’s attempt to shake it off with a “humbug” is derailed by a light cue (okay, so the lighting isn’t totally uninspired). These and a couple other such details are so charming that it’s puzzling why there are so few, especially as they demonstrate that Velasco’s adaptation is anything but phoned-in.

“In this production of A Christmas Carol,” Velasco writes in her Director’s Notes, “I hope to emphasize the wealth inequality rampant throughout our world and the dangers it presents.” Although I don’t know that she succeeds in providing especial emphasis, she doesn’t need to, because that theme is well represented in the text itself. Poverty, inequity, cruelty, lack of opportunity — this is Dickens’s bailiwick. Each yearA Christmas Carol reminds us of the horrors of such things, and of how we can choose 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.” Such fellow-feeling is the key to minimizing inequity — and Velasco need not worry about whether Long Beach Playhouse’s 2022 production broadcasts that message loud and clear.

A Christmas Carol at Long Beach Playhouse
Times: Thurs–Sat 8:00 p.m., Sun 2:00 p.m.
The show runs through Dec. 18.
Cost: $14 to $24
Details: (562) 494-1014; LBplayhouse.org
Venue: Long Beach Playhouse, 5021 E. Anaheim St., Long Beach