“A Christmas Carol, the Musical,” Diamond Head Theatre’s holiday offering, lacks the tingle and jingle of the Yuletide spirit but nonetheless serves up an eyeful and earful of a party.
It mixes Victorian England motifs with Broadway bounty, jammed with a community of period townsfolk in top hats, capes, cloaks and bonnets, alongside tap dancers in candy-bright finery. Ghosts of Christmases past, present and future appear amid cartwheeling acrobats in a breathless profusion of production numbers. At the finale, faux snow falls.
“Carol” is a 1994 Broadway re-imagination of the Charles Dickens classic, which ran nine years in New York as a Yuletide competitor to Radio City Music Hall’s annual Christmas Rockettes spectacle — which is still alive and kicking.
| ‘A CHRISTMAS CAROL, THE MUSICAL’
Based on the Charles Dickens classic, with music by Alan Menken, lyrics by Lynn Ahrens, book by Mike Ockrent and Ahrens
>> When: 7:30 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays, 3 p.m. Saturdays, 4 p.m. Sundays, through Dec. 23
>> Where: Diamond Head Theatre
>> Tickets: $15-$50, 733-0274, diamondheadtheatre.com
CREDITS
Directed by John Rampage, choreographed by Lisa Kimsey, musical direction by Judy Yoshioka, set design by Willie Sabel, costume design by Karen G. Wolfe, lighting design by Dawn Oshima, hair/makeup/wig design by Friston Ho’okano, sound design by Cameron Olson, props design by Christina Sutrov, stage management by Christina Sutrov and Mathias Maas.
CAST
Miles Phillips as Ebenezer Scrooge, Matt Gilbertson as Bob Cratchit, Tony M. Young as Jacob Marley, Christopher Obenchain as Ghost of Christmas Past, Joe Martyak as Ghost of Christmas Present, Celia Chun as Ghost of Christmas Future, Greg Gilbertson as Tiny Tim, Ryder Goto as Tiny Tim understudy, Dvorah Governale as Mrs. Cratchit, Ella Sultan as Martha Cratchit, Devin Teruya as Peter Cratchit, Isabel Hytry as Belinda Cratchit, LeGrand Lawrence as Mr. Fezziwig, Stacey Pulmano as Mrs. Fezziwig, Jason Cavinder as Fred Anderson, Erin McFadden as Sally Anderson, Ryder Goto as Fred Anderson Jr., Suzanne Maloney as Mrs. Mops, Nicholas Lockwood as Ebenezer at 12, Seanalei Nishimura as Fan, Marianne Garcia as Scrooge’s Mother, Cheyne Nomura as The Beadle, Alika Bright as Young Ebenezer, Mia Shelbourne as Emily, Chev-Vaughn Lum as Young Marley, Randy Brandt as Mr. Smythe, Natalie Borsky as Grace Smythe
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This premiere Hawaii engagement of the musical is from the creative team of composer Alan Menken (“Beauty and the Beast,” “The Little Mermaid,” “Little Shop of Horrors”) and lyricist Lynn Ahrens (“Ragtime,” “Once on This Island,” “Rocky, the Musical”). It’s probably the most reinvented of all Christmas yarns, with films from such franchises as the Muppets to Walt Disney, plus interpretations on TV and stage. DHT’s own “Scrooge” adaptation, with comedian Frank DeLima as Scrooge, was localized with pidgin English.
So what the Dickens, you ask?
Led by an astute and convincing Ebenezer Scrooge (Miles Phillips, last seen in Paliku Theatre’s “1776”), it features a cast of nearly 50, direction by John Rampage, an eight-member orchestra conducted by Judy Yoshioka and choreography by Lisa Kimsey.
“Carol” is more eye candy than heart-warmer. The troupers are handsomely clad in holiday finery, the cutout sets establish vintage British homes and pubs, and the chic society types mingle with a beggar. So there’s no shortage of atmosphere.
But the tunes are forget- table, void of holiday warmth despite being delivered with robust cheer and flair. While the cast revels in joy, the audience awaits an “aha” moment — the proverbial 11 p.m. takeaway song — but it never arrives.
However, the ghosts provide tension and some thrills: Christmas Past (Christopher Obenchain), pristine in white, goes airborne (courtesy Flying by Foy); Christmas Present (Joe Martyak) rants in a Three Wise Men-like robe and bushy overgrown beard; Christmas Future (Celia Chun, dripping in white) dances, en pointe, without dialogue.
They prod the stingy Scrooge to recall his past en route to repentance.
The usual suspects are aboard: Matt Gilbertson is Cratchit, the tireless Scrooge employee whose son is Tiny Tim, the lad on crutches; Tony M. Young is Jacob Marley, Scrooge’s business partner-turned-ghost, who enters via a fireplace; the Fezziwigs (LeGrand Tolo Lawrence and Stacey Pulmano) toss a holiday party resembling the wedding scene in “Les Miserables” (including a Madame Thernadier look-alike); and enduring lines like “Bah, humbug!” and “God bless us everyone” live on.
The show is family- friendly, with minimal fear factors. Scrooge, the presumed scoundrel, ultimately has charity and heart; his is a wonderful strife.
