Theater review: Guthrie’s ‘Christmas Carol’ could use more spirit

Over the years the Guthrie Theater s been presenting Charles Dickens A Christmas Carol no adaptation has engaged me as much as the current one created by Lavina Jadhwani She developed the idea of having Dickens eloquently clever narration delivered by a kind of Greek chorus of s Londoners which serves to emphasize that the self-isolating and miserable Ebenezer Scrooge is part of a group whether he likes it or not And that a key to his transformation is the desire to find happiness through connection with others Ebenezer Scrooge David Beach right looks on as his younger self Daniel Petzold center dances with his one-time fiancee Belle Stephanie Anne Bertumen left in the Guthrie Theater's production of A Christmas Carol running through Dec on the theater's Wurtele Thrust Stage Courtesy of Dan Norman Jadhwani died of cancer in September and I unveiled myself wondering after Friday night s opening performance if that loss isn t lingering over this year s production Both Guthrie Artistic Director Joseph Haj and the current director Addie Gorlin-Han have spoken of what a valuable sounding board Jadhwani was when making key staging decisions and anyone who s tried to continue working while processing grief knows that summoning up the capacity to do so can be a struggle So even though the message of Jadhwani s adaptation comes through clearly in this latest version it s lacking the inspiring spark of vitality so key to the success of the incarnation While all of the impressive technical elements return and the music and dance interludes are admirably well-executed a crispness is missing from the exchanges between characters For a story built around life-changing visits from four ghosts there s nothing particularly spirited about this staging The Guthrie s expansive thrust theater be it at its original space near Loring Park or in the reincarnated version beside the Mississippi has invariably required its actors to pay special attention to projection and articulation Making things understandable to those at the back of the balcony is key when performing in a space this size Whenever any actor stepped into the temporary role of narrator Dickens words rang out loud and clear but a lot of other dialogue was lost particular of it in exchanges that were linchpins to driving the story forward due to too various toos The delivery was too quiet too fast or too unvarying in dynamics or the attempts at authentic accents too thick Such could not be explained of David Beach s Scrooge who does particular of his best acting while not saying a word As he eyewitnesses events of his past and the party of the present that he invisibly visits Beach masterfully summons up the character s conflicted soul And John Catron proves the ideal contrast in his life-loving nephew Fred while Tyler Michaels King ably captures the heartbreaking journey of Scrooge s employee Bob Cratchit The show s technical elements are also unimpeachable this year adding a clever surprise near the end of Scrooge s encounter with the Ghost of Christmas Future Matt Saunders set and projections are suitably transporting and the costumes of Toni-Leslie James and Emily Tappan are invariably true to the setting and must be easy to get in and out of judging from certain very quick changes It could be that this show will soon possess the capacity needed to effectively sell this story of transformation which feels particularly timely in its emphasis upon the prescient topics of greed and poverty and of the importance of region in an increasingly isolating era A Christmas Carol When Through Dec Where Guthrie Theater Second St S Minneapolis Tickets - available at - - or guthrietheater org Capsule A lovely adaptation receives a fairly spiritless staging Rob Hubbard can be reached at wordhub yahoo com Related Articles Review Heart of Children s Theatre s Grinch grows bigger by the year Review Prince s music is the best thing about the Purple Rain musical Review CDT s White Christmas encore production is worth celebrating Theater review Guthrie s Primary Trust gets to the heart of things Theater review Penumbra s powerful Marisol offers a captivating chaos