Call me sentimental, but I love A Christmas Carol.
Charles Dickens’ classic story of a mean old greedy miser’s haunted night of the soul and ultimate morning redemption gets me every single time. It’s my favorite book. I love the old movies. I even love the Muppet Christmas Carol. In a holiday awash with Hallmark movies and Mariah Carey, I’ll take this old holiday chestnut every time.
So it should come as no surprise I especially love the Goodman’s stage production, and this December’s version is no exception.
Jessica Thebus’s staging of Goodman’s A Christmas Carol is a refreshing take on the Christmas institution with notable shifts that breathe new life into the classic. To begin with, Scrooge is different. Austin Tichenor played Ebeneezer Scrooge in the Sunday evening performance I attended, ably filling the shoes of Christopher Donahue, who has (according to recent reviews) ably stepped into the role formerly inhabited by Larry Yando for 16 years.
Tichenor’s Sunday night interpretation went hard at the brutally cold, unfeeling, utterly-Scroogelike Scrooge, but he also more than successfully made the flying leap into the warm, cheerful, holiday-generous, goofy, redeemed Christmas morning Scrooge.
Once again, the set looks incredible. Todd Rosenthal’s design transports us back to Industrial Revolution London, by turns cold and foreboding, then charming and warm.
The opening scene is a standout, featuring narrator Kate Fry gently rocking a baby and singing a lullaby in the Cratchit home. Fry sets the tone for the family’s love and warmth with a presence as the narrator that feels organically woven into the fabric of the story.
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Filling in for William Dick on Sunday night, Loren Jones’s portrayal of Marley’s ghost is a chilling highlight—he’s both terrifying and sad, bound by chains like a grotesque, anguished marionette.
When it’s not terrifying us with the ghost story, the Goodman’s Carol is lovely, musical, and inclusive. Moments of song punctuate the action, without feeling interruptive, corny, wedged in, or overwhelming. Robert Schleifer plays Mr. Fezziwig with a silent grace that embodies the Christmas spirit through sign language, leading the ensemble as they beautifully sign and sing “We Wish You a Merry Christmas” —a truly touching detail. With its multiracial, multiethnic, intentionally diverse-in-every-imaginable-way cast, the play is wonderfully warm and welcoming in a world that’s been feeling a little colder these past few days.
The emotional core of the production is well-supported by Anthony Irons (Bob Cratchit), Susaan Jamshidi (Mrs. Cratchit), and Dee Dee Batteast (Frida, Scrooge’s niece), grounding the supernatural elements brought to life by Lucky Stiff (Christmas Past), Bri Sudia (Christmas Present), and Amira Danan (Christmas Future). In a story meant to jar us awake and then soothe us with the promise of the joy found in goodness and generosity, the ensemble hits both notes to perfection.
So there you have it. It’s been a cold December, so far, and it might end up being a pretty cold winter, but the Goodman’s A Christmas Carol reminds us–as it does each year–that there is plenty of warmth to be found. It shows us, once again, that each of us, everyone, has a warm heart and generous spirit just waiting to be revived.
A Christmas Carol runs through December 30 at The Goodman’s Albert Theatre, 170 N Dearborn Street, Chicago. You can get tickets here. For more Chicago reviews or show information, see chicagoonstage.com or theatreinchicago.com.
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