Monday, November 14, 2022

Weekly Margin 2022, W47: A Christmas Carol

What: Michael Arden directs man of a thousand characters Jefferson Mays in this one-person production of Dickens's classic story about a cold man's redemption and the Christmas spirit.
And? Halloween's over, bring on the Christmas ghost story! I saw the filmed version of the George Street Playhouse's version of this production in 2020 and loved it, so I was excited to get to see in person. And wouldn't you know it, for the second week in a row I found myself inadvertently at a first preview. So my small quibbles (the sound levels are too high, they haven't perfected some of the set movement so we kept catching sight of the crew when the turntable spun forward) are ones that hopefully will be fine-tuned as the show goes on. My other issue is probably something they would call a feature, not a bug: it's very dimly lit, especially at the beginning. While this allows for a few spoilery magic tricks and creates the spooky ambiance, it also means we can't really see the work Jefferson Mays is doing (it also means, when bright light finally makes an appearance, I had to cover my face because it actually hurt my eyes). Still, it's a moving show that moves along at a 90 minute clip, and Mays is always a treat to watch in his element: playing 300 characters.

Jefferson Mays as Ebenezer Scrooge. Photo source.


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