I’ve been attending the opening nights of A Christmas Carol at the Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park for nearly three decades. I did so on Friday, Nov. 30 with every expectation of seeing Charles Dickens’s familiar tale of Ebenezer Scrooge’s Christmas Eve conversion from angry miser to loving benefactor, thanks to the visitation of his long-dead business partner Jacob Marley and three ghosts sent to teach Scrooge some important lessons. The Playhouse’s adaptation by Howard Dallin is an excellent script, and with actor Bruce Cromer in the central role, the show has become a holiday tradition. Many of the children who have appeared in the show over the years are now adults who bring their own children to see it.
It’s also a spectacular and ornate physical reproduction of Victorian London employing turntables, lighting and sound effects, as well as trap doors with scenic elements that elevate to the stage and enable swift, dramatic scene changes. But on Friday evening the central lift failed about five minutes into the first act, requiring the production to grind to a halt, with the actors directed to depart the stage with a public address announcement by Stage Manager Andrea L. Shell. The trap door at center stage where Scrooge’s desk was expected to rise was a gaping, dark hole.
Shell came onstage to tell the audience that the mechanical failure was being addressed, and the hope was that in 10 minutes or so the action could resume. The audience buzzed quietly, hoping that we’d soon be underway. But nearly a half-hour passed without much progress; the elevator brought the desk partially up but stopped short of the floor. And remained stopped. At that point Managing Director Buzz Ward announced that a 20-minute intermission (free beverages from the bar) would be next, and then the show would resume somehow.
When the audience returned, almost an hour after the expected curtain, nearly 30 distinctly non-Victorian folding chairs were set up — backed by the Victorian-set — and the cast filed in to fill them. We were told that the story would be performed without scenic changes, props, and occasionally without costume changes. (Several actors play multiple roles.)
This made for a uniquely interesting evening of theater, unlike any other Christmas Carol I had ever attended. As Scrooge, veteran actor Cromer had fun occasionally pointing out that a door or a bowl of gruel were only imaginary. Mr. Cupp (Nick Rose) and Mr. Sosser (Taha Mandviwala), who had begun the show announcing, “Once upon a time…,” came forward and proclaimed, “Twice upon a time…” The audience was with the actors, enjoying this more elemental approach, one that demonstrated the ability of actors to improvise and roll with anything that might happen during a live theater production.
The entire cast remained onstage for the two acts, sometimes leaping up to perform their scene, sometimes paying rapt attention and often laughing at the bits of improvisation that were embroidered in the moment. The production uses numerous child actors, and they handled the novel approach just as effectively as the veteran performers. Martha Cratchit (Mia Goodlett) usually crouches under a table to trick her father Bob into believing she could not be home for Christmas Eve. With no table, her siblings Peter (Teancom Thacker) and Belinda (Ashlynn Isobel Hezlep) simply stood in front of their sister to block her from view; with a mischievous smile, tiny Hezlep spread her skirt to further make Martha invisible.
Such moments happened again and again, never detracting from the storytelling. In some ways, this ad-libbed approach made the entire tale feel more immediate. Cromer was clearly in his element, making his own sound effects as he opened his bed curtains, and then turning a cartwheel when he joyously realized that it was Christmas Day and he had the chance to redeem his bad behavior.
In my opinion, this spontaneous response to a difficult situation exemplifies how theater can be made exciting in so many ways. Ward did announce that anyone who wanted to return to see the full production on subsequent evenings could call the box office for another admission. It was a generous gesture, but I’m betting that many in attendance felt they had seen Dickens’s tale in its full, heartfelt glory. Bravo to the entire cast.
A Christmas Carol at Playhouse in the Park runs through Dec. 29. More info/tickets: cincyplay.com.
