By MARIA SCIULLO
As holiday traditions go, Pittsburgh CLO’s A Musical Christmas Carol is a dandy.
Who among us doesn’t know the Charles Dickens story of love, loss and redemption? There have been so many versions over the decades done in lighter veins – Muppets! Vanessa Williams‘ A Diva Christmas Carol! And even (shudder) Mr. Magoo!
But getting back to basics, PCLO’s 32nd annual staging of A Musical Christmas Carol is a heartstring-tugger and a delight to behold. It runs through December 23 at the Byham Theater, Downtown, with daily dives into the wizened soul of that curmudgeonly old Scrooge, Ebenezer.
Aaron Galligan-Stierle, Lisa Ann Goldsmith and CLO Academy actors.
Scrooge (two-time Tony Award-winner Michael Cerveris) berates his head clerk, Bob Cratchit (Musical Christmas Carol newcomer Aaron Galligan-Stierle) for burning five lumps of coal on the office when, in his miserly opinion, three would suffice. When his only living relative, nephew Fred (Justin Fortunato), drops by to wish him a cheerful “Merry Christmas,” Fred is rebuffed …
Bah, humbug. We’ve heard it all before.
And that’s what makes this annual Pittsburgh version so special. Like a holiday feast with new side dishes, the core of the play stirs passion over what we already anticipate. We love it all the more for director Scott Evans‘ care and creative telling of the source material.
A Musical Christmas Carol, Pittsburgh CLO’s annual show at the Byham Theater.
(Image: kgtunney Photography)
Dickens’ A Christmas Carol is a ghost story, and for the vast minority who have never read/seen/heard it, we have: a Christmas Eve visit to Scrooge by four ghosts. The first is his former business partner, Jacob Marley (Daniel Krell), who tells him to expect three more spirits that night. Past, present and possibilities yet to come are revealed in visitations by the ghostly trio, played by Kat Harkins, Tim Hartman and John Paul Berry.
Stagecraft and Krell’s nightmarish portrayal render Marley’s appearance as quite alarming, although the kids in the audience didn’t seem to have a problem with it. More frightening, on a mature level, is Marley’s corruption in the life of young Ebenezer (Berry). Even Scrooge’s marriage request to Belle (Saige Smith) sounds like a business proposal.
Will Ebenezer be able to change his ways and wake up to the plight of so many needy lives in a world he chooses to ignore? It’s hard not to draw a line between Scrooge, who has so much, and certain billionaires in today’s world who also have so much, but do little to share.
That’s actually a trick question. Everyone knows what happens to “miser” Scrooge on Christmas morning.
Here, finally, Cerveris’ Scrooge breaks his shell as observer. Displaying a miraculous change of heart, he is happy, even giddy; others think him mad. When he carefully says “Merry Christmas,” Cerveris enunciates the phrase as a man trying out a foreign language, headed toward a new way of life.
Cerveris, who currently can be seen in HBO’s A Gilded Age, radiates the many phases of Scrooge in this second turn for Pittsburgh CLO. A Musical Christmas Carol is blessed with a cast full of talent and range. Standouts include Christine Laitta and Hartman, whose broad comedy in multiple roles played well within an otherwise somber story. Aubree Liscotti, 9, is a suitably adorable Tiny Tim, and a pack of CLO Academy kids fearlessly race own aisles and up the “snowy” steps of the stage and, to their credit, avoided “acting” as kids.
Director Evans is also the choreographer (the original choreography was by David H. Bell), in a show that has many moving parts that mesh seamlessly. This being a “‘musical” Carol, it’s more of a play with traditional Christmas songs. The staging and singing of the carolers was lovely and well-used for dramatic effect, framing each scene and accompanied by a five-piece orchestra, including music director McCrae Hardy on keyboards.
D. Martin Bookwalter’s scenic design, a melange of in-the-dusty-attic furniture and clockwork, is moodily bathed by Andrew David Ostrowski’s lighting design. Mariann Verheyen‘s Victorian-era costumes looked sumptuous.
It’s nice to be reminded that some holiday customs don’t disappoint, and A Musical Christmas Carol is one of them.
TICKETS AND DETAILS
Pittsburgh CLO’s A Musical Christmas Carol is at the Byham Theater, Downtown, through December 23, 2023. Tickets: visit https://www.pittsburghclo.org/shows/a-musical-christmas-carol or call 412-456-6666.
NOTABLE: For a toy drive partnering with Charlie Batch’s Best of the Batch Foundation, audience members are encouraged to bring an unwrapped toy and add it to collection in the inner lobby. On December 23, at noon, there will be a adapted sensory friendly performance: https://www.pittsburghclo.org/plan/amcc-sensory-friendly.
Categories: Reviews
Leave a Reply Cancel reply