Scrooged again: The mother of all holiday shows returns

It’s back! Denver’s yearly staging of Charles Dicken’s A Christmas Carol returns with new cast members while bringing back Vicki Smith’s iconic sets, Kevin Copenhaver’s marvelous costumes in the classic adaptation created for the DCPA by Laird Williamson and Dennis Powers.

Director Anthony Powell dedicates this year’s staging to Williamson who passed away in 2020 and directed 14 stagings of A Christmas Carol. Williamson and Powers helped usher in the Denver holiday tradition in 1990. In 2005, they organization switched to a new script by Richard Hellesen and music by David de Berry that has been used ever since.

A Christmas Carol follows Ebenezer Scrooge (Michael Santo), a shrewd, elderly businessman who has a disdain for Christmas. The play begins on Christmas Eve and we watch Scrooge berate his poor clerk, Bob Cratchit (Timothy McCracken), and insult his nephew Fred (Seth Dhonau) for their yuletide cheer. But, that evening, Scrooge is visited by the ghost of his former business Jacob Marley (Jacob Dresch), who wears heavy chains and warns Scrooge that he must change or his fate will be worse than his.

Scrooge (Michael Santo) contemplates his fate | Photo: Jamie Kraus

Marley tells Scrooge that he’ll be visited by three spirits, the Ghost of Christmas Past (Stella Kim), the Ghost of Christmas Present (Topher Embrey) and the Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come (Marco Robinson). The ghosts take Scrooge on a time-traveling caper through his memories on a mission to learn the true meaning of Christmas and features the impossible: a businessman understanding that poor people are human beings!

Watching this show was a joyous experience. It doesn’t seek to overly complicate the premise; rather, the production team focuses on delivering a heartwarming, family-friendly interpretation that clearly communicates Charles Dickson’s ever-relevant story (do you think the DCPA could arrange for the three ghosts to visit Elon Musk this Christmas?)

Powell’s love for the show is apparent through his smart and resourceful staging of the production. I quite liked the usage of projections throughout to subtly enhance scenic elements and create surreal moments of spectacle. For example, Marley’s face is displayed on the door knocker with video and during time travel sequences a clock projection covers the stage floor to signal Scrooge is going back or forward in time. The lighting design by Wen-Ling Lia was also very well-done; it was the perfect combination of seasonal and spooky lighting choices.

Powell largely uses these technical elements during the moments of grandeur built into the story. By not overdoing the show’s tech, he’s smartly able to keep the focus on the talented group of actors onstage who are clearly having a blast telling this story. Speaking of the cast, Grady Soapes’ casting of the production is top-notch. Every actor – from the principals to the ensemble – is perfectly suited to their role, and the cast is wonderfully diverse.

Michael Santo delivers an excellent lead performance as Scrooge. He does a really nice job of not playing his character’s transition into a good guy too early in the play. Santo begins the play perfectly dry and hilariously apathetic to the world around him. He garners laughs from a well-timed eye raise, look, gesture and, of course, several deliciously snarky “bah humbugs.” When ghosts start appearing, Santo is slow to believe them, but is reminded of his inner child and begins to open up to other people again.

The script takes a little bit to get going. Act 1 begins with a Christmas song that is a little repetitive and generic-sounding, followed by the introduction of the village. This introduction to Scrooge and the town is a little slow, particularly due to the slight overreliance on ensemble narration early in the first act to help deliver exposition, which slows down the pace.

However, as soon as Jacob Dresch makes his shocking, horror-movie-jump-scare style entrance from beneath the stage as the Ghost of Jacob Marley, the play’s story kicks into high gear, and the actors really start to have fun. Dresch is wonderfully campy and brought an incredible burst of energy to the play’s first act. He bangs his chains around, cackles, shrieks, and lets out a ton of ghostly moans to warn Scrooge of the trouble he’ll be in if he doesn’t change his ways.

The highlight of the production was during the group scene at Fezziwig’s Christmas party in the Past section. Shabazz Green and Emily Van Fleet, who play the Fezziwigs, are adorable together. Van Fleet’s rendition of Mrs. Fezziwig’s silly Christmas song with the fan was hilarious and was made even funnier by Green’s ad-libs to the audience about how much he loves his wife and her performance. This led into a group jig that was sharply choreographed by Grady Soapes and energetically performed by the entire ensemble.

Fezziwig’s Christmas bash is a highlight of the show with Shabazz Green and Emily Van Fleet as the head party-hounds. | Photo: Jamie Kraus

Jess D’Souza and Timothy McCracken are an endearing couple as the Cratchits. The pair have strong chemistry together and make a charming couple. McCracken delivers a beautiful Christmas toast in the second act that is a powerful meditation on how Christmas changes over time and has an emotional moment about Tiny Tim during the future section that is quite moving. The Cratchit family scenes, which featured Felix Torrex-Ponce, Evan Duncan, Aidan Sakich and Logan Turner, felt remarkably earnest without being overly sentimental.

Topher Embrey’s performance as the Ghost of Christmas Present is jovial and appropriately boisterous. Embrey enters with high energy on a sleigh and is decked out in a golden or green robe with a specter and holly crown. He was quite funny but also handled the character’s darker moments effectively. He has a great sequence with Santo where he spits Scrooge’s words about the poor back at him, then dramatically vanishes.

Other standouts in this massive cast included Seth Dhonau as Fred, Scrooge’s amiable nephew. He was quick with a joke, devilishly charming and really made you understand why he continued to reach out to his uncle after all these years. Chole McLeod is hilarious in a small role as a party guest who is eager to get married during Fred’s dinner party. The hardworking ensemble members also deserve a shout-out for their immense energy and strong reactions.

If you’re interested in seeing A Christmas Carol this year, this is the version to see. The DCPA’s A Christmas Carol is entertaining, heartwarming and the perfect way to ring in the holiday season.