A Christmas Carol: Scrooge & Marley

Don't let the subtitle trick you: This isn't an adaptation of "A Christmas Carol" along the lines of "Scrooged" or the Susan Lucci TV movie "Ebbie." This is straight-up Charles Dickens, complete with Christmas geese and little waifs on crutches. Only the British accents are missing, but judging from the level of talent displayed in the Barefoot Theatre Company's production—part of the 70/70 Horovitz Project, which will revive 70 of playwright Israel Horovitz's plays for his 70th birthday—it looks as if British accents are, indeed, too much to ask.

Director Robert Bruce McIntosh contributes some inventive stage work when Scrooge is first haunted by his dead business partner, but he makes the mistake of staging the proceedings at a glacial pace. A slow-and-steady approach may be fine for children in the audience, but it will be torture for their parents, who have spent their lives hearing about mean old Scrooge (John Gazzale), his put-upon employee Bob Cratchit (Jeremy Brena), and Bob's woeful son Tiny Tim (Anthony Pierini).

Beyond the American accents (though Gazzale does add a mid-Atlantic flavor to his dialogue that at least separates him from the rest of the cast), the well-known phrases and plot twists are portrayed with leaden sincerity, enlivened only occasionally by bizarre acting choices. Caitlin Davies contributes my personal favorite with her Ghost of Christmas Past, a phantom whose vocal swoops and soars had the pleasant effect of making one feel as if on a ship in the midst of choppy waters.

With so many clever transpositions of Dickens' holiday classic, "A Christmas Carol: Scrooge & Marley" needed a defining choice or inventive twist to elevate it above the rest of the pack. Instead, audiences get a lump of well-intentioned coal.


Presented by Horse Trade Theater Group and Barefoot Theatre Company at the Kraine Theater, 24 Bond St., NYC. Dec. 11–23. Wed.–Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 3 p.m. (Additional performance Tue., Dec. 22, 8 p.m.) (212) 868-4444 or www.smarttix.com.