THEATER REVIEW - 'A CHRISTMAS CAROL'

THEATER REVIEW

‘A Christmas Carol’ - Produced by: Theatre Three – Port Jefferson  

Commentary by: Jeb Ladouceur  

Jeffrey Sanzel’s miserly ‘Ebenezer Scrooge’ is haunted by Dylan Robert Poulos who maneuvers the ceiling-high ‘Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come.’All actors know something that probably escapes the ken of the average theatergoer: Audiences have a lot to do with the molding of a performer’s delivery, and ultimately they affect the success of a show. The reaction of patrons to a stage artist’s interpretation, whether to vocal inflection or on-stage activity, will invariably tell actors and their director what works, and what doesn’t. Of course, the experienced director, standing in for the audience during rehearsals, sees to it that performer and attendee will usually be in sync come opening night, but not even the most accomplished director can be a perfect audience-surrogate for an entire play.

Accordingly, it has been my experience that because of this interconnection, stage shows generally tend to get better with each passing performance … and by the time a production is ready to close, it will likely be at its polished and satisfying best.

But there are some shows that are so timeless, so expertly conceived, and sufficiently audience-friendly that the curtain never really comes down on them permanently. And such a one is Theatre Three’s annual production of ‘A Christmas Carol,’ a theatrical legend that’s in its 33^rd year at the grand old playhouse in Port Jefferson. 

The big cast of Theatre Three’s 33rd annual production of ‘A Christmas Carol’ adapted for the stage by Jeffrey SanzelNaturally, it’s impossible for all cast members in such rare plays to remain in specific roles over the years. Indeed, the players change … and thus interpretations of a production’s various characters change along with the new faces. Different actors obviously bring varying métiers to the parts that were played by someone else the season before.

This is where the insight and adaptability of a perennial show’s director becomes supremely important. For while the artistic mentor enjoys the advantage of knowing what’s worked well with audiences in the past, he (or she) is still charged with evoking the best performances that this year’s actors are capable of delivering. One thing is certain—they’ll never be identical to the preceding ones.

With ‘A Christmas Carol,’ Director Jeffrey Sanzel enjoys a distinct advantage in that he wrote the stage adaptation of Charles Dickens’ immortal classic, and he also plays the lead character, miserable Ebenezer Scrooge. With those dual linchpins in place, Sanzel manages, year after year, to offer up satisfying productions that Long Island audiences have come to expect from the master director. Amazingly, he succeeds simultaneously in showcasing new talent in abundance.

Significant, surely, is the iconic nature of the novella first published in 1843. In the nearly two centuries since then, the story has so captured the imaginations of millions worldwide that quotations from the book have become household terms (“Bah, humbug” – “God bless us, every one” - etc.). We have a tendency to favor the familiar and the quotable when it comes to our art … and in particular the performing arts. Dickens contributed mightily to establishing that, and Sanzel wisely capitalized on it in his adaptation.

The collaborators might have been separated chronologically by some two hundred years, but artistically they have a lot in common … and Long Island’s theater aficionados are the beneficiaries.

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Award-winning writer, Jeb Ladouceur is the author of a dozen novels, and his theater and book reviews appear in several major L.I. publications. His newest book, THE GHOSTWRITERS, explores the bizarre relationship between the late Harper Lee and Truman Capote. Ladouceur’s recently completed thriller, THE SOUTHWICK INCIDENT, is due next month. It involves a radicalized Yale student and his CIA pursuers. Mr. Ladouceur’s revealing website is www.JebsBooks.com