Review: Crown City Theatre's 'A Chicago Christmas Carol'

Well, God bless us, every one. Charles Dickens’ holiday staple has been visited by a trio of ghostly life coaches. The musical “A Chicago Christmas Carol,” by Crown City Theatre Company, is the result.

Hovering in the ether, Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill bestow an extra measure of social consciousness on this production, while Upton Sinclair lends his setting from “The Jungle.” So the familiar characters, plus a few new ones, are plunged into icy, sooty, early-1900s Chicago to try to eke out a living in or near the sinister abattoir run by Ebenezer Scrooge.

The most poignant variation in this show by Crown City Artistic Directors William A. Reilly (book and music) and Gary Lamb (lyrics) is the inclusion of a mother and daughter (Joanne McGee and, at the reviewed performance, Shannon Lamb) whose Christmas Eve eviction forces them into the streets. The girl becomes this version’s Tiny Tim, while Tim himself matures into a 17-year-old labor organizer who, as portrayed by power-piped Malek Hanna, delivers a workers’ song that is the production’s most rousing moment.

Throughout the score, the plodding rhythms of everyday drudgery leap, whenever possible, into a joyful dance. At a piano beside the stage, Reilly provides jaunty, blood-pumping accompaniment.

The designs are basic but resourceful, the performances pleasant if rarely stellar. Then again, in his very ordinariness, Michael Vodde, as Scrooge, reminds us that sneering, miserly impulses reside in us all. Most important, the presentation, directed by Tam Warner, retains Dickens’ generous spirit, even when exercising tough love on its characters — and, by extension, the audience.

--Daryl H. Miller

“A Chicago Christmas Carol,” on the St. Matthew’s Lutheran Church campus, 11031 Camarillo St., North Hollywood. 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, 2 and 7 p.m. Sundays. Ends Dec. 21. $20. (818) 377-4055. Running time: 2 hours, 10 minutes.

Caption: Joanne McGee and Shannon Lamb in "A Chicago Christmas Carol." Credit: Neil Reinhold

Comments

[Ellen McDougall]

I loved the show. So did my daughter. One of the young people looked like a person my daughter loves. She kept asking if the tall boy was Zach Efron was in the show? That alone kept her on the edge of the seat for 2 hours. I loved the music and the acting and the costumes and set. Everything was great, and I hope I can see it again before it shuts down. merry Christmas. thanks for making the holidays great crown city theatre.