Theater review: A more vivid, spirited 'Christmas Carol'

A man with half a heart, a diminished soul and little warmth (cold is cheap, after all), Ebenezer Scrooge is sometimes portrayed as a scowling cartoon -- a historical figure clearly removed from our own era of stated compassion and understanding.

But in the Guthrie Theater's 33nd annual production of "A Christmas Carol," which opened the day after Thanksgiving, Scrooge sounds like someone running hard for office.

He complains that he is overtaxed. He has positions on work (people don't do enough of it, then have the audacity to ask to be paid on holidays when they don't work); and on love and marriage (non-profitable).

And don't get him started on the poor, whom he calls "the surplus population." When people ask Scrooge for alms, he replies with his own questions: Are there no jails? What happened to the poorhouses?

Although his positions are extreme, actor Raye Birk, who stars again as Dickens' miserable miser, gives us an insight into this materially rich man's poor soul. His Scrooge is a hacking scold, to be sure, but also a man of practicality and earnestness. He would change if he could see the light.

Luckily for him, Dickens uses spirits, so vividly drawn by director Gary Gisselman at the Guthrie, to conduct Scrooge through an audit of his life and future. The Ghost of Christmas Past (pixie-ish Charity Jones) shows him the dreaminess, hardships and errors of his youth -- the circumstances that shaped him. The Ghost of Christmas Present (Stephen Pelinski, robed like Father Time and wearing a crown of candles) shows him the effects of his behavior on others. Christmas Present takes Scrooge to the home of his employee Bob Cratchit (Michael Booth), whose table is not bountiful but whose family is full of hope and cheer, even lame child Tiny Tim ("God bless us everyone").

And the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come shows him what will happen if he continues on his heartless path (mocked at his own funeral).

A show such as "Christmas Carol" can become routine. But director Gisselman, returning for his seventh staging at the Guthrie, has amped up the production, making it altogether livelier and more boisterous than in recent years. The sound effects are a little louder. The acting is broader and more colorful.

And he has drawn this story even tighter, cutting a party scene, and sharpening the contrasts between the characters. For example, Scrooge transforms into a man of merriment, causing Cratchit to faint. The result is a winning, spirit-led reminder of our interconnections in this season of mirth and giving.

Rohan Preston • 612-673-4390

Rohan Preston • rpreston@startribune.com