OnStage: Christmas -- past and present

Much has changed since 1988, when Fuller donned Jacob Marley's chains in his "Carol" debut at the Guthrie Theater. But the performer has remained a constant in a show that has become a touchstone of the holidays in the Twin Cities.

Fuller has played many roles in "Carol," from Marley to Ebenezer Scrooge, from Bob Cratchit to the Ghosts of Christmas Present and Yet to Come. He has missed only two productions -- in 1991 and 2003 -- since he was first cast as Marley, a ghost he has a played six times, including last year.

"Each time you do it, you have a different motivation," he said. "Sometimes it is to scare the bejeezus out of children. Ah, that was fun. Other times, it's to get Scrooge's attention that he has to mend his ways."

For his 20th production, Fuller is playing two smaller roles -- Blakely and Edwards. No matter what he is doing in "Carol," he welcomes it.

"It's nice to be employed at the holidays," he said before a rehearsal last week. "You get to practice your craft -- to exercise your [theatrical] muscles. And you get a paycheck. What more can an actor ask for?"

'Carol' a-changing

A Duluth-reared doctor's son who graduated from Dartmouth College with a pre-med degree and later studied theater at USC, Fuller served a three-year hitch in the Navy. He moved to the Twin Cities in 1976, doing radio and TV commercials between gigs at local theaters.

Fuller's first Guthrie job came in 1976 as an understudy in "Twelfth Night." Since his first role in "Carol," he has been an inside witness as the show has contracted and expanded, accordion-like, over the years. Party scenes have gotten bigger, before being pulled back. Characters have come and gone. And a whole scene was once added to the show without the knowledge of playwright Barbara Field, who first adapted the stage play from Charles Dickens' novella in 1975.

"A little mummers' play once got incorporated into the script," she said, referring to the disguised folk players who perform at the holidays in England and the British Commonwealth. "There can be all kinds of things there, but we always stay true to Dickens' message and to his marvelous language."

This year's "Christmas Carol" is being done as a 90-minute one-act -- the fulfillment of a wish by playwright Field and director Gary Gisselman. Both stressed that nothing essential has been cut; the show has become more economical.

"Tiny Tim doesn't die," said Field. "To be honest, we're taking out some things that over the years creep in and make the show grow. The Fezziwig party is essential. It's where Scrooge first meets Belle, where he falls in love with her and where he acts so callously. But it had grown way too much. Truth is, the show is a lot more focused now."

Tightening focus

That condensing of "Carol" to a length more typical of film -- what one wit dubbed "Half-a-Carol" -- pleases director Gisselman, who has staged the work since 2001. He thinks the 2 1/2-hour run time in recent years was too long.

"It is a ghost story that is best told in one breath," Gisselman said. "I always felt that since it comes from a book that can be read in one sitting, we should try to match that."

For Fuller, playing his many characters means that it is possible for his memory to play tricks on him, substituting the lines of one character for another. So he tries to clean his slate each year.

"You have to empty yourself out, otherwise you get confused," he said. "You might resurrect dead lines that have been cut, or you might give Marley lines that belong to Scrooge, or you might just freeze." He once had such a moment.

"I was thinking about how quick a scene was when I suddenly became aware of this loud quiet," he said. "It was me. I was standing there. And I did not know what to do. So, I stuttered and [a fellow actor] said something with a cue in it." As Fuller spoke, he knocked on wood, hoping never to repeat such a moment.

Of all the parts he has played, Scrooge is his favorite. "He has such an arc, starting out sour and ending up sweet and so full of life," he said. "I loved that old fellow. It's like he starts out dead and all the ghosts help him strip away the pieces of himself until they get to some life in there."

Rohan Preston • 612-673-4390