The Rep's 'Christmas Carol' a Contemporary Crowd Pleaser

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Photo credit: Michael Brosilow

The Milwaukee Repertory Theater holiday favorite, A Christmas Carol, demonstrates that long-term experience with a project can produce gratifying results. The Rep’s production provides stunning sets expressing the spirit of 19th-century Charles Dickens’ London with eye-popping special effects. This is no demure production but has the verve and vivacity, the zest and hilarity, for a 21st-century audience. If something of the original seems buried in a plethora of high liveliness, the overall effect combined with a stunning music ensemble and inventively costumed creatures popping out of the woodwork provides an emotionally satisfying and enriching experience. It’s a crowd-pleaser from start to finish, yet in a contemporary idiom.

The seasoned cast includes familiar faces at the Rep, starting with Jonathan Wainwright’s winning performance as Scrooge, which sets the drama in motion. He manages to convey the simple sincerity of Scrooge’s transformation into a caring human being; no small feat in this complex production. Milwaukee favorite Angela Iannone plays multiple lesser roles, but shines as Mrs. Fezziwig. No less compelling is Jonathan Smoots, whose stunning, dramatic entrance jumping out of a wall reminds Scrooge of his sullied past. The charming Deborah Staples looks lovely as the Ghost of Christmas Past and brings her own poignant sense of glamour to the role.

Reese Madigan (Bob Cratchit) and Rana Roman (Mrs. Cratchit) provide necessary warmth—setting the second act in motion. Todd Denning’s glamorous entrance as the Ghost of Christmas Present may seem a little over-decked in robes more befitting the court of Henry VIII, but he adds a joyful, celebratory note to the proceedings in contrast to the ghostly demeanor of Brade Bradshaw as the Ghost of Christmas Future.

Those who may have worried that this spiffy, almost-overproduced production strays too far from the simple sincerity of Dickens’s story were won over by the joyous energy of the production and left with smiles on their faces. This is A Christmas Carol for the future.