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Arts & Entertainment

'A Christmas Carol' Living Large Through Small Cast

Unique adaptation of Dickens' classic re-imagined on Shakespeare Theatre stage.

The final production of the 2011 season is under way at .

The good news is you have until the first day of 2012 to enjoy it.

Rest assured, there’s plenty more good news to report about the Shakespeare Theatre production of “A Christmas Carol,” which opened Thursday and staged its press opening Saturday night in Madison.

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For starters, even if you saw Artistic Director Bonnie Monte’s 2007 take on Neil Bartlett’s clever and uniquely theatrical adaptation of the beloved Dickens’ classic, she’s held true to her pledge of a completely fresh staging. If you didn’t, then you’re really in for a treat.

The most unusual aspect of Bartlett’s approach is to employ a small cast to play some 50 roles. This decision was borne of economic need: He was writing a holiday show to benefit a small London company with limited funds to employ a big cast.

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But instead of merely cutting corners, Bartlett wove a marvelous outline of theatrical devices tied to pure Dickens’ language. The results were not only a completely new approach to the familiar story, but presented an imaginative landscape for a good director to work with.

Enter Monte, who in 2007 conducted Bartlett’s rich opus like Bernstein might have conducted Beethoven. While Bartlett limited himself to Dickens’ prose and dialogue, Monte added generous flourishes of theater, using actors not only to play characters, but inanimate objects.

Some actions are choreographed with onomatopoeia, like the clerks who chant “scratch, scratch, scratch” as they write in ledgers with quill pens, or chant “tick, tick tick” to signal their anticipation of the holiday hour.  Clock bells toll through the harmonies of small choruses that chime whenever needed. Other characters generically describe the objects they encounter (“fire poker-old,” “gruel-thin”), in some cases for dramatic emphasis, in others to claim a laugh.

Many of these devices are back for the 2011 reimagining and they all still work. But the ghosts, to name four important examples (don’t forget Marley, who makes quite an impression here), are completely different.

“You’ve never seen the likes of me,” Ames Adamson states as the Ghost of Christmas Present (“Christmas present,” he says with comic “get it?” emphasis). No argument here.

The Ghost of Christmas Future, too, is a visual revelation and appears as big and scary as you could possibly hope.

From the sets to the scene transitions, Monte continues to find new ways to delight us, but in the end, it’s up to the cast to conjure the magic.

Philip Goodwin, as Scrooge, is another notable change to this production. Company Favorite Sherman Howard was a physically intimidating Scrooge in 2007. Goodwin is older, slighter and grayer, equally fearsome, but perhaps a bit sadder than Howard. He is so assured of his rational opinion of Christmas that you almost buy into the incredulity he expresses to nephew Freddie when confronted with the notion how something that does not turn a profit may still hold value.

Sure, he’s evil, but this intellectual approach makes it more plausible that he can be turned around if presented with a strong argument. As such, the audience is encouraged to root for the outcome we hope for and, of course, expect.

The ensemble also includes several veterans of the 2007 production (Adamson, Erin Partin, Greg Jackson, Tina Stafford) and other familiar faces (Clark Carmichael, Susan Maris, John Ahlin), while Cameron Berner, Blake Pfeil and Erica Knight, the relative newcomers, ably complete an outstanding cast.

Adamson, in particular, demonstrates his versatility as a character actor in a final scene that’s too funny to miss (or to give away here). And Jackson, when playing Bob Crachit, really tugs at the heartstrings. For all the fun this production offers, the most poignant moment of the night is an extended scene of lingering silence at the Crachit family table after Tiny Tim is lost.

Monte was determined to give us the whole story and certainly succeeds in that regard. But we also are treated to dancing, ingenious physical comedy, a few effective special effects and plenty of lovely Christmas music (it’s clear that singing was part of the audition process).

For theatergoers who think they’ve seen “A Christmas Carol” too many times already, allow me to urge you to give it one more go. You won’t be disappointed. And don’t forget to bring the kiddies: as sophisticated as some of Monte’s theatrical devices may be, they go down as easy as a glass of rich eggnog.

“A Christmas Carol” runs through Jan. 1 at the F.M. Kirby Shakespeare Theatre, 36 Madison Ave. at Drew University, Madison. Tickets are $32 to $55. No performances Dec. 24-25. For tickets and show times, call 973-408-5600 or visit www.shakespearenj.org.

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