A REALLY BIG SHOW
The San Diego area does not lack for productions of A Christmas Carol this holiday season. Fortunately, fans of the Charles Dickens classic who would welcome a more hip version of the novel need go no further than Ebenezer Scrooge’s BIG San Diego Christmas Show at The Old Globe.
(front) Dan Rosales, Josh Breckenridge, Cathryn Wake,
(back) Jacque Wilke and Christopher Sieber
The title may seem a little cutesy, but the show is droll, funny, and creatively staged and acted. It isn’t really appropriate for children who would be lost in the hip material, but it should be a total delight for older viewers who will get a nonstop hoot out of the word play and in-jokes delivered without letup by a multi-talented ensemble of five performers.
Josh Breckenridge as Bob Cratchit, Dan Rosales as Tiny Tim, Jacque Wilke
as Mrs. Cratchit; Christopher Sieber and Cathryn Wake
Ebenezer is co-written by Gordon Greenberg and Steve Rosen, who will be happily remembered for their wacky send-up of 19th-century Russian literature in Crime and Punishment, A Comedy, presented with joyous results at The Old Globe several months ago.
Cathryn Wake, Josh Breckenridge, Christopher Sieber, Dan Rosales, Jacque Wilke
Greenberg and Rosen very broadly follow Dickens’ Victorian tale, portraying how the spirits of past, present, and future haunt miserly Ebenezer Scrooge in a single night, converting him into a generous and repentant man. The setting is relocated from Victorian England to 1919 San Diego. The co-authors deliver their show in about 75 minutes without an intermission, plenty of time to treat audiences to enjoy an abundance of rapidly delivered gags about San Diego area people and places, like the tight parking at Trader Joe’s, excruciating delays for ComCast service, and the disappointing San Diego Padres.
Cathryn Wake (Ghost of Christmas Present), Christopher Sieber (Scrooge)
The theater has imported Broadway veteran Christopher Sieber to play Scrooge. Sieber is a large commanding actor who sells Scrooge’s nastiness with relish, but still has the acting chops to convince viewers that his Scrooge is genuinely repentant at the end of the show. Sieber then leads the ensemble in a joyous sing-along to wrap up proceedings.
Christopher Sieber and Josh Breckenridge
Sieber is supported by four performers who take on role after role with effortless versatility and energy. Josh Breckenridge, Dan Rosales, Cathryn Wake, and Jacque Wilke can change a costume and alter an accent in a nano second and they are pretty good musicians and singers to boot. Wake has a delightful pixie charm that carries over from character to character. And Rosales has a scene stealing scene in which he impersonates the woeful but chirpy Tiny Tim with the little fellow as a puppet attached to the actor’s shirt.
Cathryn Wake as Prudence Saint and Jacque Wilke as Gertrude Saint
The physical production is a wonder of collaborative visual and oral invention. The chief designers are Adam Koch (scenic design), David Israel Reynoso (costume design), Amanda Zieve (lighting design), and Bart Fasbender (sound design, especially clever at synchronizing the varied and complex sound effects). Director Gordon Greenberg presides over the whole operation with a sure and imaginative hand. The production is staged in the in-the-round Sheryl and Harvey White Theatre, which allows the free flow of movement throughout the diminutive acting space. There is always something going on but the staging never looks busy or cluttered.
Christopher Sieber as Ebenezer Scrooge
In the end, the production sustains a meld of original story with sharp modern humor that sets just the right fresh tone for the adaptation. There are no cheap shots at the expense of Christmas Carol sentimentality. The verbal and sight gags never miss and never seem forced, and the few moments of genuine emotion fit flawlessly. As the reborn Scrooge cries near the conclusion, “Glorious, glorious.” So what’s next, the Greenberg-Rosen version of Hamlet?
photos by Rich Soublet II
Ebenezer Scrooge’s BIG San Diego Christmas Show
The Old Globe’s Sheryl and Harvey White Theatre
1363 Old Globe Way in Balboa Park
Tues-Sun at 7; Sat & Sun at 2
ends on December 24, 2023
for tickets (beginning at $29), call 619.323.GLOBE or visit The Old Globe