Neither Fox, nor my mother were interested in seeing A Christmas Carol at The Palace Theatre this year. I could have gone by myself, but then I learned that one of my favorite former Palace Theatre summer performers was going to be in the ensemble of A Christmas Carol at The North Shore Music Theatre.This theatre is considered to be at a slightly higher level than The Palace. It’s larger, tickets are usually pricier, and it’s a theatre in the round. We don’t go to this theatre very often, and wasn’t sure why. The last time I was there was literally decades ago when I went there to see Seven Brides for Seven Brothers with my mother and sisters, but other than that I haven’t been there to see anything, even though it’s about the same distance away as The Palace.
Well now that I’ve been to their production of A Christmas Carol, I think I know why we don’t tend to go there. It’s not because there’s anything wrong with the productions that they put on, the show was wonderful, the issue is the logistics of the theatre. Because it’s a theatre in the round, the lobby is basically a long corridor that wraps around the entire theatre in a ring. This corridor isn’t particularly wide, and when a show is sold out, and they haven’t yet opened the doors to the theatre, and it’s cold outside, this narrow lobby gets absolutely PACKED. My mother and I entered at one of the farthest ends of the lobby ring, and we had NO IDEA what we were getting ourselves into. We were just trying to find the box office so we could pick up our tickets, and a bathroom, and it was like we were two stupid salmon fighting against a tide of other salmon all trying to go upstream. We were packed in like sardines and barely anybody was moving, and even with this massive crush of bodies SO MANY people were trying to go to the various bars interspersed around the ring so they could wait in line for drinks and snacks. My mind was boggled.
We got there around half an hour before showtime, so I was shocked when they didn’t open the theatre doors to let people sit until only fifteen minutes before the show started. I’ve never seen a theatre with such an undersized lobby, and such an overcrowding problem before. I tried to remember if it had been like that for Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, but that probably wasn’t a sold out show, and I don’t think we went to see it in winter.
My mother was NOT happy with the crushing crowd, and kept shooting me these incredulous looks and grumbling about it. Like I get it, it was a pain, but at a certain point, you just have to suck it up and accept that this is the situation we’re in, and channel your inner sardine.
But anyway, we did manage to get our tickets, and use the bathroom, and then it wasn’t long after that we were herded like sheep through the crush of people into the theatre.
This particular production of A Christmas Carol has been being performed for apparently thirty-six years, and for thirty-one of those years, the same guy has been playing Scrooge to ridiculous acclaim. I was dubious over how great this guy could possibly be, because I thought all the accolades were a bit over the top, but from the first few lines out of his mouth, I understood why he’s so well loved in this role. This guy IS Scrooge. Firstly, he has an incredible voice, deep and rumbly that practically makes the theatre vibrate when he yells, “Humbug!” He does an amazing British accent too, it’s 100% convincing, so much so that I decided to check if he was ACTUALLY British (he’s not, he was born in Texas). He’s a big guy so he had a lot of literal physical presence too, his Scrooge was one that made you cringe when he was shouting at people. Because he sold the mean, miserly bits so well, it made it all the more moving when the cruel facade starts to crack, and shows the vulnerable man underneath who uses his anger as an armor to protect his heart from hurt. He’s definitely the best Scrooge I’ve ever seen in a live performance, and now I totally understand why people come back to see him every year.
There were a few differences between this interpretation and the one at the Palace Theatre. There was not as much dancing in the show overall, but there were two dancers dressed in black with golden sparkles that acted as a pair of spirits. They entered the stage by sliding down a pair of aerial silks, but after that promising entrance they really didn’t add much to the show, but I think they were mainly there to support other characters. The Ghost of Christmas Past was on a rolling platform so she looked like she was gliding around, and they were the ones pushing the platform around for most of her scenes. They also held onto the ends of Jacob Marley’s chains to help him from getting tangled. There was also a scene with Mrs Dilber (a character that doesn’t feature in The Palace Theatre’s production), where they torment her as she’s trying to get Scrooge’s bed ready, and that scene is clearly only there to allow the actor who plays Scrooge time to get in his dressing gown and cap.
Speaking of Mrs Dilber, she was great too, she put on an incredible accent, and was very funny and silly. She had a great rapport with the fellow who played Scrooge, and I found out afterward that they’ve BOTH been doing the show together for thirty-one years. What a fun job that must be. They added a little bit of romance to the show where Scrooge gives her a kiss at the end, and gives her a longing look. I wonder if they always had that in the show, or if they added the romantic twist after working together for so many years?
One of my favorite scenes was for sure the one with Jacob Marley, who came busting out onto the stage suspended on a wire. The Palace Theatre doesn’t have the infrastructure to do any kind of wire work, so it was so exciting getting to see a Jacob Marley who was able to fly like a proper ghost. He was all done up in glowing green with long dangling chains, but he also had a large pink glowing book with a letter M on it. I’m not 100% sure what the pink book was about, but his character design in general was quite cool and ghostly. The actor who played him was flung all about the stage and did a great job of emoting Jacob’s torment while in midair. It was quite a sight.
Since I’m talking a bit about costume design, I have to mention one of my main, but absolutely silly and trifling complaints. There is a narrator character who walks with a cane and is revealed at the end of the show to be an adult Tiny Tim, they also do this at The Palace so I had no issue with that. What I had an issue with, is the fact that this narrator was wearing navy blue SHORTS with black stockings underneath. They specifically mention that the show is taking place in 1837, and I knew that grown-ass men did not wear SHORTS during this time period. Especially considering that since he should have been at least a decade or two later fashion-wise, he would absolutely not be wearing shorts. During that time period, short pants were only something that little boys wore, you would never catch an adult man wearing shorts, even with stockings on underneath. I have no idea what the costume designer was thinking when she decided to put shorts on that man. It distracted me for the entire show.
My favorite former Palace Theatre summer performer who I mentioned had several very small ensemble roles, but it was still fun getting to see him on stage again. His biggest strength is doing comedy though, and unfortunately there weren’t a ton of opportunities for him to deliver that in his little ensemble roles. Although he did get some laughs from the audience for his recurring bit as a guy carrying wreaths who keeps bumping into Scrooge. I keep hoping one day I’ll get to see him in a show where he plays a larger role, and gets to flex his comedy muscles properly. He’s only 23 or so, so there’s still time!
One thing that was consistently excellent in this show were the accents. They must have a very good dialect coach, because even the small children sounded great, while the accents at the Palace Theatre often make me cringe. The little girl who played Tiny Tim was absolutely adorable, and couldn’t have been any older than 8-9 years old. She was very sweet in the role, and did an excellent job holding her own among all the bigger kids and adults. I definitely found myself getting a bit verklempt as I always do in the scenes where they’re mourning Tiny Tim, but I even got a bit teary eyed during the scenes with young Scrooge and Belle. Old Scrooge did such a good job at selling the regret, and it was incredibly moving.
The Ghost of Christmas Present was played by a very charismatic Black man, and it was nice getting to see a bit of diversity in an otherwise VERY white show. I’ve never seen a Black Scrooge, or a Black Cratchitt family in a theatre production, and I’d still very much love to see that level of diversity in A Christmas Carol. It was also nice that they gave him a wig that matched the type of long hair he would have, rather than them just taking the wigs normally worn by white actors and trying to make it work on him. His outfit was one of the more beautiful costumes in the play, with sparkling clusters of fruit and berries decorating just above the cuffs of his sleeves.
Another thing I thought was very creative, was that the guy who played younger Scrooge, also played The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come, and he even revealed himself near the end while standing on Scrooge’s grave. Having Scrooge’s younger self confront old Scrooge about where his life is headed and giving the spirit a familiar face was much more interesting than having the ghost just be a spooky skeleton guy in a long robe. That was probably my favorite moment in the whole show, even beyond the spectacle of Jacob Marley flying around overhead.
There were a handful of things about the show that were not so great. The woman who played the Ghost of Christmas Past had a long solo song, and I REALLY did not like her voice. My mother wasn’t bothered by her singing at all, but to me, she sounded like nails on a chalkboard, and I was actively cringing until she was finished with her song. There was also a trumpet player who happened to be standing directly behind our section during a couple of numbers before and after intermission, and it was horribly loud. I get that they were trying to make it feel more immersive by bringing the orchestra out of the pit, but MAN was that trumpet loud.
The orchestra was phenomenal though I must say. They have a much larger one than the Palace, including some string instruments, and a gentleman who played an absolutely beautiful harp up in a raised section above the stage.
Another silly thing that bothered me, was that the set for Scrooge’s bed didn’t even have any kind of pad or mattress on it, and it drove me nuts every time he went to lay down on it. I’m sure there was some technical reason why they didn’t put any sort of padding on it, but it just looked painful every time he had to pretend to sleep on it. This was NOT a young man playing Scrooge, give that man a cushion!
Oh man, I nearly forgot about the prize turkey, the one that Scrooge asks the boy to buy for him and deliver to the Cratchitts. The guy playing the poulterer comes out with this GIANT fake bird hanging from a stick that’s slung over his shoulder, and it was so ridiculously silly looking. I can’t even describe how ridiculous this turkey was, it was just a mass of feathers with these two big stuffed animal looking bird feet coming out the top, and a weirdly artistic turkey head hanging down near the guy’s feet.. My mother and I both burst out laughing when we saw it. I don’t know who designed that turkey but… I mean… maybe they were going for comedy with it? It certainly didn’t look appetizing though.
I found the ending to the show a little bit anticlimactic, but that’s mainly because I’m used to the musical version of Scrooge where the ending after Scrooge wakes up is full of a giant musical number medley that seems to go on forever. My mother liked when the kid who played Tiny Tim came running out to the narrator and he called him little Ebeneezer. A cute touch, but too bad for the kid who has to be named Ebeneezer.
It was a good production, but a lot of that definitely lies in the quality of the guy playing Scrooge, he really is something, and I’m definitely glad I got to see him once. However, I don’t think I liked it more than The Palace’s production, and I don’t know if it’s worth the higher ticket prices, AND the crazy crush of that lobby. Still, I’m glad we went to see it.
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