A beloved tradition returns: 'A Christmas Carol' to be performed at Ohio Theatre
Four years have passed since the Nebraska Theatre Caravan last brought its production of Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” to the Ohio Theatre.
Before the pandemic halted the company’s touring, the troupe based in Omaha had made Columbus an annual stop for at least 30 years. In truth, the group had been coming here so long that no one can quite remember how long.
“I think it’s been longer than that, but I can’t find good records to support it,” said Chad Whittington, the president and CEO of the Columbus Association for the Performing Arts (CAPA), which owns and operates the Ohio Theatre.
“For decades, it’s been part of what we do,” he said.
All that came to an abrupt stop during the pandemic. From 2020 onward, central Ohio audiences had to do without a beloved holiday activity during the weekend after Thanksgiving — the usual date of the tour’s stops in Columbus.
“Throughout COVID, and especially as we were coming back out, we were hearing from a lot of people (who said) this was a family tradition,” Whittington said.
There was talk that the Nebraska Theatre Caravan would resume its tour, but so far, that hasn’t happened.
“We were waiting for them to bring it back,” Whittington said. “We heard that they just weren’t going to be able to mount a tour.”
That’s when CAPA decided to put on its own show.
In partnership with Short North Stage, CAPA has produced its own all-new version of “A Christmas Carol” that will debut in the same slot occupied in the past by the Omaha troupe’s production: the weekend after Thanksgiving. Performances will take place Friday through Sunday in the Ohio Theatre.
“It had been successful before, and with us hearing from everyone, ‘Hey, we really want it back,’ we felt comfortable in taking the risk that audiences would return,” Whittington said. “It’s such a classic Christmas story.”
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A home-grown production
When it became evident that the Nebraska Theatre Caravan’s “A Christmas Carol” would not be returning to Columbus soon, CAPA leaders faced a choice: find a comparable touring production somewhere around the country, or create its own.
“I’m not aware of another tour that would have been a good fit for us,” Whittington said.
The next step was selecting a local theater group to partner with CAPA, which primarily functions as a presenting, not producing, organization.
Both The Contemporary Theatre of Ohio — the group formerly known as CATCO — and Short North Stage would be logical candidates to co-produce a new version of “A Christmas Carol,” but CAPA, already in discussions with Short North Stage about other potential collaborative projects, went with the latter.
“Either of them would have been good partners,” Whittington said. “It ended up being a marriage of coincidence in the sense that we happened to be talking with Short North Stage at the same time.”
New dimensions to an old warhorse
In many ways, the CAPA/Short North Stage version of “A Christmas Carol” will be familiar to anyone who has seen any stage or screen version of Charles Dickens’ 1843 novella.
The plot remains intact: In 19th-century London, a notable curmudgeon called Ebenezer Scrooge is compelled to revisit his life and carefully ponder his values after being roused from slumber by assorted spirits.
In next weekend’s performances, a cast drawn from Ohio and New York actors will fill all the traditional parts. Thom Christopher Warren, who also penned the adaptation of Dickens’ novella, will appear as Scrooge. Other actors include Greg Mallios as Bob Cratchit; Joel Rainwater as Jacob Marley; Vasthy Mompoint as the Ghost of Christmas Past; and Zikenna Ahanotu as Tiny Tim.
Even so, director Edward Carignan, also the artistic director of Short North Stage, promises a fresh, lively, thoroughly modern production. Upon receiving the go-ahead to create the production, Carignan and Warren sampled other regional productions of the show.
“They’re all wonderful and beloved by their communities, but they do in some ways feel like shows that were created 10, 20, 30 years ago and have been sort of updated,” Carignan said.
By contrast, the CAPA/Short North Stage show is engineered for audience expectations in 2023.
“It is very cinematic — it flows, there are no scene breaks,” said Carignan, adding that the play has been condensed to improve dramatic momentum.
“When you don’t sit in scenes forever — like Marley and Scrooge becomes a five-to-seven-minute scene instead of a 15-to-20-minute scene — that certainly does help get us track to see the first ghost and start going through the memories and the flashbacks,” Carignan said. “I really love the engine of the show that Thom has written.”
The sets were designed by scenic designer Antonio DiBernardo, an associate scenic designer on Broadway.
“We gave him ideas like ‘Hamilton,’ which is a very big show but its scenic design is a very simple idea — it’s a unit set with things that are added to it,” Carignan said. “(DiBernardo) was also very inspired by the Industrial Revolution in London.”
The costumes by Molly Walz take inspiration from the novella’s original illustrations; as an added literary touch, the costumes feature samples of Dickens’ writing on them.
Composer Thom Albert wrote incidental music that will help establish the show’s mood and atmosphere; a soundscape will add to the ambience.
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Greater depth to an antihero
In both adapting Dickens’ tale and inhabiting the role of Scrooge, Warren sought to add depth to a character who sometimes might seem like a superficial antihero.
Warren has added a prologue that attempts to trace the origins of Scrooge’s singular meanness.
“I frontload all of this with the idea to start the play by allowing the audience to have a little bit more information before we start the story,” Warren said. “The Scrooge we all know and love to hate, being abusive to his clerk — we all know how that part of the story starts.” Warren added: “I wanted to see a little bit more of his early life, kind of a little bit more of the trauma that shaped him into this broken human being.”
The idea is to give audiences an insight into why Scrooge becomes a cranky adult who utters phrases like “Bah humbug,” he said.
“It gives the viewer that anchor at the beginning,” Warren said. “If I’ve done it correctly, we’re a little more invested in his redemption because we saw what broke him to begin with.”
A new perennial?
All of the artists involved with the production attest to the enduring lessons of Dickens’ tale.
“In the holiday season, we’re all supposed to self-examine how we can be more joyful and kind,” Carignan said. “We all have a little Ebenezer in our hearts after a long, hard year. Seeing this story can be a cathartic experience. Anybody can change their minds, and anybody can move forward, and anybody can enjoy the holiday season in a way that you don’t enjoy any other time of year.”
With that in mind, will CAPA/Short North Stage’s version of “A Christmas Carol” have as long a run as the Nebraska Theatre Caravan’s enduring production?
CAPA leaders — who have already scheduled the show to go on tour to the Shubert Theater in New Haven, Conn., in December — are hopeful it will be a Thanksgiving weekend attraction in Columbus for a long time to come.
“That’s absolutely the expectation,” Whittington said.
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At a glance
CAPA and Short North Stage’s “A Christmas Carol” will be performed at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 2 p.m. Sunday in the Ohio Theatre, 39 E. State St. Tickets start at $26. For more information, visit capa.com.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: 'A Christmas Carol' comes to Ohio Theatre in Columbus
