Christmas Carol, A

Jefferson Mays has given Los Angeles an ideal Christmas gift: a one-man, thrilling performance of Dickens’s A Christmas Carol, which he adapted along with Susan Lyons and director Michael Arden.>I Am My Own Wife” and “Yes, Prime Minister,” returns with a much-abridged but moving version of the Dickens classic tale.  In it he impersonates some fifty characters, giving each of them a distinctive voice and manner.  Mostly, though, he addresses the audience in the voice of Ebenezer Scrooge, the old skinflint and misanthrope who is taught a lesson in humanity and compassion by his wage-slave Bob Cratchit (and the latter’s crippled son, Tiny Tim).

Working in a tight circle of light in a creepy setting designed by Dane Laffrey and lit by Ben Stanton, Mays commands the stage from the onset and proceeds to dazzle with his storytelling gifts.  Loafers and Stanton’s stagecraft is equally impressive, especially in the scene in which Scrooge’s guilty conscience kicks in and he suffers from the unmerciful taunts of his victims’ ghosts. It is a chilling supernatural moment which gives Dickens’s sentimental tale a deeper, darker psychological dimension…and makes you feel a bit more kindly toward the despicable Scrooge.  It also prepares you for his redemption, which occurs in a clap of thunder and light suggesting heavenly intervention.

Thanks to Mays and his talented team, this holiday show is one to remember.