Their show used to be an annual local holiday hit, but I think it’s been 20 years since Village Players last presented their homegrown version of Charles Dickens’ 175-year-old classic “A Christmas Carol.” Their original musical retelling, written in the early ’60s by company members Bruce Petsche and Jim Cronin, was dubbed Ebenezer, after the miserly main character, Ebenezer Scrooge, of course.
The last time I saw Ebenezer, in maybe the late ’80s, during the full-cast finale on opening night, a snow machine high above the performers broke loose and one of the male singers was struck by a swinging pipe. He bled profusely from a head wound as the ensemble sang “Christmas Is a Magic Time of Year” and took their curtain bows. The show must go on, but let’s just say that was not exactly a festive Kodak moment.
I don’t think the musical has been performed since that year. It wasn’t the accident, of course, that caused Ebenezer to be shelved. Like any business, theater goes in cycles and perhaps, for a while, the troupe simply tired of Scrooge, Tiny Tim, and the whole “Bah Humbug” deal. But now the new, re-energized Village Players have revived their treasured classic in a lively, engaging evening presented by a large, likable cast of 33. This show is as quaint and heartwarming as an antique Christmas card. ‘Tis the season to be sentimental, so if you’re in the market for 90 minutes of old-time holiday cheer, here’s the perfect production. It’s co-directed by Philip Nardulli and one of the original authors, Bruce Petsche.
One forgets “A Christmas Carol” is a lot of things-from a chilling ghost story to an uplifting parable. But let me get out of the way the comment that this show is not flawless. The tone is inconsistent to say the least. There’s Jimmy Durante-style vaudeville schtick, followed by pure Victorian schmaltz featuring a chorus of tattered tots. The writers seem to have started out doing a spoof or a parody with numbers like “He Didn’t Leave a Shilling to Me,” a hilarious Bob Hope-Bing Crosby style soft-shoe number sung and danced by Scrooge’s former business partners, played by Chuck Sisson, Burke Fry, and Jim Leonard (These gents also portray the Christmas ghosts). But then it seems like the creative team of Petsche and Cronin got caught up in the irresistibly sentimental charm of the material and their satiric or mock tone evaporated.
The set is rather spartan-looking and the costumes seem like many decades of the late 19th century on parade but never the crinolines of the early Victorian era. Let’s not quibble though. Somehow it all seems to work. There’s no denying that the evening makes for delightful holiday fun.
Everyone from Mr. Magoo to the Muppets has taken a shot at the title role. (Remember Scrooge McDuck?) It’s a cause for celebration that once again Oak Park has its own Mr. Scrooge.
John Roeder is wonderful in the title role. Over the years V.P. vets played a ton of roles (his “Mr. Cellophane” in the musical Chicago is a personal favorite.) Back in the day, he even played the put-upon Bob Cratchit character in an early mounting of Ebenezer. Roeder’s considerable gifts allow him to be both malevolent and comical. To the tight-fisted old geezer, money is everything, yet Roeder endearingly makes us feel for Scrooge, even when he’s harassing his clerk for expecting a paid holiday on Christmas Day.
Craig Zeller is delightful as Scrooge’s earnest clerk Bob Cratchit, a struggling family man trapped in a dead-end job. His number “I Work For the Old Geezer” is fun. Mrs. Cratchit, Jacqueline Petzel, has a fine voice.
Malik D. Hughes is the “crippled” boy, Tiny Tim, and for once the kid’s scenes don’t make you cringe (as in the various movie versions). We never learn the lame child’s malady, though it was probably a form of polio. Dickens was always pointing out the devastating effects of poverty on the working class.
Jaime Sandoval is Scrooge’s amiable nephew Fred, and his son, J.T. Sandoval, is one of the kids in the ensemble. Maryann Carlson is “Mrs. Fred.”
The party flashback at Mr. Fezziwig’s seems underdone. Just who is this benevolent man? And why is everyone at his home in the same exact attire in a later scene set in the present? But Scrooge, of course, is traveling in the Twilight Zone so we mustn’t get nit-picky.
An early episode features a gaggle of former streetwalkers (hookers) now known as the Sunnyside Girls who are soliciting for charity. Their lively number builds into a kick line. They ask Scrooge for “just a few shillings,” but he turns them down, of course.
The plot is undoubtedly familiar to most of us. As Scrooge settles down for the night on Christmas Eve, he is warned by his dead business partner Marley’s ghost (Chuck Sisson) to change his miserly ways before it’s too late. Then he has three ghostly visitors who share a mission: to show him his past, the present he’s created, and the future he can expect. They point out the path to his redemption.
Debbie Hennessey is the choreographer and Mercita DeMuynck is musical director. JeNae Taylor is the stage manager.
I saw the show at the Founder’s Night special event at which many members of the audience had long ago appeared in various roles in Ebenezer. It’s nice to see the company once again celebrating the season with one of their special gifts to the community.
The perennial holiday favorite film, It’s A Wonderful Life (1946), transforms an already good man by saving him from despair. But the thing I always appreciate about the Scrooge story is that he’s not really changed in the end but rather restored to his original kind self-which makes this tale especially uplifting and reassuring. There is hope for all of us if we just focus on others and aren’t so grumpy, embittered, and self-absorbed. We’re all given a chance for redemption by vicariously experiencing Scrooge’s rough ride on Christmas Eve.
