It’s the 25th year of “A Christmas Carol” at Hartford Stage and all is calm, all is bright — even when the calmness is a little unexpected.
Michael Wilson, the show’s original adaptor and director from back when he became Hartford Stage’s artistic director in the late 1990s, has returned for the past few seasons to fine-tune his production, which was revived in 2023 after three seasons off due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
What Wilson has achieved is a steadiness, formality and consistent tone that this much lauded production has not seen in a while. Whether he might have gone too far in reining in some of the show’s more extreme moments is hard to gauge because there are more recent changes, namely a new actor as Ebenezer Scrooge and a few other new faces in the supporting cast.
The cast of the 25th year of “A Christmas Carol: A Ghost Story of Christmas” at Hartford Stage. (T Charles Erickson)
This is a show that already has quite a few big variables every year, which is clearly what Wilson’s tightened direction is trying to contain. Each new season of “A Christmas Carol” brings a different ensemble of nearly a dozen acting students from the Hartt School in an assortment of roles (mainly party guests and ghosts) plus around 15 children from the Hartford area at any given performance, playing everything from Tiny Tim to Christmas carolers to the impoverished tots named “Ignorance” and “Want” who sit at the feet of the Spirit of Christmas Present.
Whether they underplay or overplay the parts, these younger performers have been responsible for some of the biggest swings in tone during the show in past years — there was often a comical drunk at the party or a caroler who got too giddy, while at other times key lines of dialogue could be mumbled or whispered unintelligibly. This year, the carol singers are on the quieter side, neither rousing nor tentative. The Christmas party held by Scrooge’s nephew Fred is cultured and dignified. The whole Christmastime environment is gentler, smoother. You might also say it’s less cheerier.
On the other hand, “A Christmas Carol” has regained some balance. The wildest bits really ought to be the ghoulish chorus of apparitions who start the show and return as a regular reminder of the subtitle Wilson gave his adaptation, “A Ghost Story of Christmas,” the truly alarming bowels-of-Hell appearance of Jacob Marley in Scrooge’s bedroom and the swirling emotional chaos that greets the old miser when he sees the horrifying future he faces if he doesn’t change his ways. Wilson’s version is neatly paced so that the first half ends not with some big spectacle but a quiet point of reflection where Scrooge simply utters the name of his lost love Belle.
Scrooge (Guiesseppe Jones) gets haunted at Hartford Stage through Dec. 28. (T Charles Erickson)
This year’s “A Christmas Carol” has a shape and consistency again, in case you might think it had lost those things. The show’s new Scrooge, Guiesseppe Jones, fits in well with this controlled environment. His is a well modulated performance, the character’s cruelty and anger somewhat muted and his transformation to a jolly soul at the end of the show less manic than some of his predecessors.
Jones, who played the role in a different production of Wilson’s adaptation at St. Louis Repertory Theatre in Missouri, is only the sixth Scrooge (excluding understudies) in the show’s 25-year history at Hartford Stage.
Among the familiar faces in the cast are Erik Bloomquist as Scrooge’s nephew Fred and Scrooge at age 30, Kenneth De Abrew as Fezziwig and one of the charity solicitors, Robert Hannon Davis as the Undertaker and the other solicitor, Rebecka Jones as the Spirit of Christmas Past and Old Jo and of course Noble Shropshire as both Jacob Marley and Scrooge’s loyal housekeeper Mrs. Dilber.
Natalie Brown as Mrs. Fezziwig and Fred’s Sister-in-Law seems to be one of the few regulars who continues to clown around at her old levels. Even Shropshire seems to be showing some restraint this year and not just because his Marley is wrapped in heavy chains.
Rebecka Jones and Guiesseppe Jones in a street scene from Michael Wilson’s long running adaptation of Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” at Hartford Stage. (T Charles Erickson)
In one of the new interpretations of key roles in the show, Stuart Rider plays the Ghost of Christmas Present not as the garrulous, grandiose and beaming Spirit we’ve become used to in others’ portrayal, but as a kindly old hippie type. The show’s latest Mr. Marvel, the sprightly and talkative vendor who resembles the dour, silent Spirit of Christmas Future, is Daniel Madigan, who’s as amusingly wound up as one of the character’s clockwork inventions.
A steadier, more graceful performance gives you the opportunity to appreciate the fine details that have always been a part of this production. That big clock that hangs over Scrooge’s four poster bed isn’t just there to strike midnight on Christmas Eve, it moves its hands to reflect the time of day in other scenes as well. The costumes, designed by Alejo Vietti, seem fresh and comfortable every year, no small trick for a show that has come in and out of mothballs every year for decades.
Just as Scrooge credits the visiting wraiths with maximum efficiency — “the Spirits have done it all in one night. They can do anything they like!” — this whole production of “A Christmas Carol” is a marvel of economy. Dozens of folks troop across the stage, several subplots are established including Wilson’s conceit of having the Spirits mirrored by the market vendors who owe Scrooge money, songs are sung, dances are danced, ghosts frolic and a curmudgeon finds redemption in the public square in his nightgown … and it all clocks in at just under two hours including an intermission.
A Christmas tradition that now feels more traditional than ever, “A Christmas Carol: A Ghost Story of Christmas” still brightens spirits, entertains the whole family and provides guidance on becoming a better human being. The spirits still move us.
“A Christmas Carol: A Ghost Story of Christmas,” adapted and directed by Michael Wilson, is at Hartford Stage through Dec. 28. Remaining performances are Dec. 20 at 2 and 7:30 p.m., Dec. 21 at 2 p.m., Dec. 22 and 23 at 7:30 p.m., Dec. 24 at 2 p.m., Dec. 26 and 27 at 2 and 7:30 p.m. and Dec. 28 at 2 p.m. $32-$115. hartfordstage.org.
