COURTESY ACE
BY SUZI STEFFEN
Why, Ebeneezer, Why?
No, you cannot resist the spectacle
of ACE’s Christmas Carol
C
ostumes glitter, lights twinkle, high
school students affect English ac-
cents and the juggernaut of a
tricked-out Dickensian Christmas sweeps up
everyone in its path.
Yep, the Actors Cabaret of Eugene’s A
Christmas Carol, Broadway musical version,
will leap into your brain, and you’ll leave the
theater humming the song “Christmas
Together” — that is, unless you run into one
of the several Jewish members of the cast,
and she or he sings you the special rewritten
Jewish version of the all-too-catchy tune.
Then you will laugh, remembering there’s a
world outside of greenery and ribbons, a
world where bells don’t jingle all the time and
where grandparents aren’t always bedecked
in Santa hats and flashing LED displays.
Not that there’s anything wrong with that.
For a couple of hours, ACE’s over-the-top
celebration of the holiday classic definitely
entertains. How you are entertained, exactly,
depends on your attitude toward large help-
ings of schlock — though admittedly it’s
schlock with a sweet attitude and a joyful
sound. One is not supposed to laugh at the
Ghost of Christmas Yet to Be, but did the
ghost come from Mordor by way of a rave?
And oh, the jacks-in-the-boxes. However:
There’s so much to enjoy that Christmas
Carol should woo anyone, even Grinchy per-
forming arts editors (and if not, there’s
whiskey for sale during intermission).
In the program, director Joe Zingo writes
that this version is sure to remind audience
members of the first time they saw A
Christmas Carol. True. I remember my mom
taking my sister and me, dressed in holiday
finery, to the Missouri Rep’s annual Carol:
Victorian-costumed carolers entertained us in
the lobby; The Ghost of Christmas Present
seemed three stories tall; Scrooge was mean;
the graveyard scene was scary. In short, I re-
member spectacle. And that means ACE’s
show is as it should be. The story can be a bit
more realistically bleak, as in the WillRep’s
currently running Carol, but for young fami-
lies wanting a ritual holiday celebration, this
Broadway version should work marvelously.
Anyone familiar with Alan Menken’s
music will hear echoes of his other musicals
(“A Whole New World” from Aladdin, the
opening town scene from Beauty and the
Beast). Lynn Ahrens’ lyrics stick mostly to the
text but deviate enough to provide a Les
Miserables-like reference to stars and compas-
sion that leads to the signature line of any
Christmas Carol — “God bless us, every one.”
This ACE production celebrates the vari-
ous families entertwined in the theater’s fre-
quent productions. Did we see some of these
same people in Seussical? Did we see them in
Bat Boy? In A Christmas Carol, 2006 ver-
sion? How about in All Shook Up? Yes, yes,
we did.
The delightful Ashley Apelzin appears in
several roles (including the Ghost of
Christmas Past in a wintery wedding-like
costume), and Tyler Holden turns his focus
from the Cat in the Hat in Seussical to a rather
amusing Bob Cratchit here. The two young
Cratchits (Maggie Clark as Martha and Bryce
Walters as Tiny Tim) charm away, and the
ubiquitous Marc Innocenti makes Marley’s
Ghost look like the monster in Young
Frankenstein. As kind Mr. Fezziwig, Rob
Olson stands out, and Kevin Boling uses his
knowing countenance to excellent effect as
the Ghost of Christmas Present. Other repeat
performers fill the stage with lovely tableaux,
freezing when the various ghosts speak to a
goofy Ebeneezer Scrooge (Bruce McCarthy).
The lavish production with its gorgeous cos-
tumes and incessant soundtrack showers dec-
orative holiday scenes upon Eugene.
At the end of the recent UO/LCC produc-
tion of The Threepenny Opera, cast and crew
took up a collection for St. Vinny’s, trying to
stay true to the play’s message of honoring
the poor. If Christmas Carol is about nothing
else, it’s about changing the behavior of the
wealthy in order to benefit the downtrodden.
ACE dons the mantle of giving with a “Tiny
Tim’s Food Drive” for FOOD for Lane
County, something that a reformed Scrooge
would no doubt support. Whether audience
members are warm from the glow of alcohol
or “Christmas Together,” they’ll happily
pony up and make the season that much
brighter. Without LEDs, at that.
ew
ACE’s A Christmas Carol continues Dec. 7-9, 14-16 and
21-22. Go to www.actorscabaret.org or call 683-4368
for tix.
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DECEMBER 6, 2007 49