That other Scrooge: The Grinch rolls into the Denver Center

Dr. Seuss’ How The Grinch Stole Christmas! The Musical plays the Buell through Dec. 8

Dr. Seuss created a variety of weird and wonderful characters over the years, but none so indelible as The Grinch. Sure, he swiped a page or three out of Dickens’s Christmas Carol to tell the tale of a Christmas-hating grump who eventually sees the light, but his version of Scrooge has taken on a life of its own.

And, of course, instead of ghosts showing him how things might have been or could be, The Grinch just needs to see evidence that the whole shebang isn’t about bucketloads of crap from the mall (or perhaps Amazon).

This 2018 musical version of How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, a touring production of which is now showing at the Denver Center, has a high bar to clear: a darn-near perfect animated version from 1966 directed by Chuck Jones and starring Boris Karloff as both The Grinch and the narrator. It’s the one we all know and the one against all other Grinches must be measured.

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When I think of all the Christmas specials that have hung around December after December, The Grinch is perhaps the only one that doesn’t make me cringe. There’s none of the reindeer racism and shaming of Rudolph, no annoying and juvenile Frosty the Snowman, none of the overt religiosity or cruelty of A Charlie Brown Christmas and none of whatever Love, Actually is. Chuck Jones’s Grinch is funny, clever, touching, weird and remarkably concise at just 25 minutes run time.

It also had two great songs: “Welcome Christmas” (which I’ve always thought of as the “ahoo-doray” song) and “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch.” That’s the one that accompanies the scene where the Grinch steals all of Whoville’s yuletide stuff and includes memorable lines like “you’ve got garlic in your soul,” “you’re as charming as an eel” and compares The Grinch to a rotten banana with a greasy black peel.

Dr. Seuss, of course, wrote those lyrics and the song is also a highlight in the new musical, the touring production of which stars an excellent Philip Huffman as The Grinch. Dressed in a shaggy green costume that makes him look like a yeti dipped in snot, this Grinch is just as nasty as the original with a grab-bag of vocal gimmicks and physical gags that kept the kiddies in the Buell giggling throughout the show.

The set by John Lee Beatty and Robert Morgan’s costumes create a Whoville that’s as surreal as the original but with an added layer of glam that puts the Whos and their town in the same league as Munchkins or Oompa-Loompas. Are they human? Do they live on Earth? What the hell are they?

Who knows. But we do know the very cutest one is little Cindy-Lou Who, played alternately in this cast by Rachel Ling Gordon and Lily Jane. She’s the one who helps expand The Grinch’s tiny heart and convinces him to give back all the stuff he just stole — no questions asked.

With all the ingredients in place, the show nonetheless falls a bit flat with most of the other musical numbers. They’re mostly forgettable plot-movers set to some rather cacophonous music — particularly in the first half of the show (about 80 minutes with no intermission). I kept expecting something more pleasant and Christmas-y to emerge, but with the exception of the two originals, this Grinch’s musical component is the weakest part of the show.

Even so, the kids in the house didn’t seem to mind and they ate up all the other fun stuff like the flying sleigh, real snow falling down, the crazy costumes, the wacky Grinch and his goofy and oppressed dog, Max (Jared Starkey). Instead of a disembodied narrator, we have the older version of Max played by a grandfatherly Bob Lauder. Old Max helps pull the story together, and Lauder’s powerful baritone helps recall some of the magic from Karloff’s original performance.

Despite the fact that this musical isn’t particularly great musically, it’s a fun show to take the kids to see this holiday season. It’s only in town for a short run, so grab tickets while you can.