The performance sparkles with class and style heretofore not achieved by CTM, perhaps heralding higher-quality levels for productions yet to come.
Last year's bombastic interpretation, "A Christmas Carol: The Musical," taxed CTM's financial resources to the point of collapse. A team of benefactors led by entrepreneur Terry Haller provided the finances to revive the holiday chestnut, proving that there's still a market for Christmas miracles.
The two-hour production, which opened before a crowd of 500, plays off Romulus Linney's adaptation of Charles Dickens' classic, new to Madison audiences but used previously by the Milwaukee Repertory Theatre.
Linney's adaptation focuses more on the boyhood of Ebenezer Scrooge (American Players Theatre veteran Robert Spencer), creating empathy for the embittered old miser who, in this version, falls just short of beating a beggar boy with a ruler to scourge his own demons.
Director Roseann Sheridan, another APT veteran and former producer of the Madison Rep's New Play Festival, elevates this year's version well above the company's traditional community theater flavor.
Inventive sets by Nayna Ramey and colorful costumes by Scott Rott, two more APT vets, add a creative, vibrant quality that's been lacking in past, sometimes threadbare productions. All elements combine to put this year's "Christmas Carol" on par with the best Madison professional theater has to offer.
Central to the tale of anger, regret and redemption, of course, is Scrooge himself, and Spencer inhabits a compelling, complex version of the character. One can easily forgive the actor's occasional self-indulgences, especially since Sheridan's interpretation calls for brief audience interaction, and the script is overlong on the word "Humbug!"
Spencer's Scrooge is, by turns, scaly and skeptical, appropriately morose and positively merry. The actor wears the character well, riding the redemptive, somewhat treacly closing scenes with an infectious glee.
Sheridan also creates nuances in the character of Bob Cratchit (Scott Haden, again of APT), the one true long-term relationship in Scrooge's life, to create an effective dynamic that helps lend plausibility to the miser's change of heart. Aspects of the relationship are subtle and in keeping with Dickens, but Haden adds depth in what formerly was a supporting role.
The director also manages to raise the quality of the company's performance overall. Gregory Reed adds a joviality previously lacking to Scrooge's nephew, Fred, while Drew Dahl provides a frightening intensity as young Scrooge, a man in the process of hardening his heart. Nods, too, to Judy Kimball's Mrs. Cratchit, Carl Cawthorne's Old Fezziwig and newcomer Jemima Liposcak as Tiny Tim.
CTM may finally have produced "A Christmas Carol" on the level that Madison audiences deserve, thanks to the involvement of this year's artistic and financial benefactors.
God bless them, every one.
'A Christmas Carol'
CTM Madison Family Theatre
Last show Dec. 10
Capitol Theater in Overture Center
Tickets $15-$34
Call 258-4141 or 255-2080
