Category: Pabst Theater

This is a reprint of my remarks about “A Christmas Carol” at the Milwaukee Repertory Theater presented in the historic Pabst Theater during the 2019 – 2020 season. This originally appeared on my Facebook timeline November 30, 2019.

Wow, it barely feels like a year since our last visit to Mr. Scrooge. But this past week I attended a preview presentation of the Milwaukee Repertory Theater’s 44^th production of “A Christmas Carol”. And again this year, the Rep will be featuring artistic director Mark Clements’ adaptation of the Charles Dickens story. And Mr. Clements is also directing, so we will get a good look at how he interprets the story.

No, the story hasn’t changed…but it’s never really the same every time either. Each adaptation, each director, each set, and each cast brings out different views that lay on new subtleties for the rest of us to savor. And this year’s production is no different.

We have smoke and smog and bright lights, ensemble singing and foul, scary sounds, happy conversations and bah humbug mutterings, elegant interiors and the crowded rambling streets of London. And what a London it is, ever changing, ever twisting, and cleverly represented on sets continually moving on turntables to change our sense of place while we remain in place. At once and ever, a remarkable spectacle. AND it snows in the Pabst Theater!

And of course we have the transformation of Mr. Scrooge…through the endeavors of his community, both real and ephemeral. We have the interventions of the Ghost of Mr. Marley and the three Ghosts of Christmas who finally make the progress than his family and friends attempt but never master. But these good people of London engage him on their own terms and after being rebuffed, they go about celebrating life in their own ways and with their own means…but always leaving the door open…and welcoming him with open hearts and open arms when he finally senses the life that he’s cast aside.

A universal story…an epic happy ending.

Yes, I know we’ve all seen at least one presentation of “A Christmas Carol” at some point in our lives. But this is live theater and truly magical and believe me, the environs of the Pabst Theater is just the place to see it! It runs through December 24^th, 2019 and don’t wait to get tickets!  AND it snows in the Pabst Theater!

And just one strange interlude for Mark Clements: find another vehicle or two to bring Mark Corkins back to Milwaukee, he is sorely missed in these quarters!

This is a reprint of my remarks about “A Christmas Carol” at the Milwaukee Repertory Theater presented in the historic Pabst Theater during the 2018 – 2019 season. This originally appeared on my Facebook timeline on December 1, 2018!

It’s the 43rd Season for the Milwaukee Repertory Theater’s A Christmas Carol…once again lovingly presented at the Pabst Theater. And I haven’t seen it since my son was a child and I don’t remember that version particularly. But yes, this one is bigger than life, bigger than death, overdone, overplayed, overacted, overaccented, overemoted, totally over the top and all of us loved every minute of it. Jonathan Wainwright is incredible and credible as Ebenezer Scrooge…I can’t imagine anyone else doing it after seeing him perform last night. If he gets tired, I’d be willing to take over the role of Charles Dickens for him at the play intro. Other standouts in my eye were Jesse Bhamrah as Scrooge’s nephew, Debra Staples as the Ghost of Christmas Past and Mark Corkins as the Ghost of Marley. It was a particular thrill to hear and recognize the voices of two of my favorites, Ms. Staples and Mr. Corkins, before I recognized their faces in their costumes. It was wonderful to see you both again! And how can A Christmas Carol go wrong by performing my favorite Christmas carol, God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen!

But the real star is the set! It moves from street scene to office scene to street scene to bedroom scene to street scene and of course to all of the Christmases past, present and future. It is amazing. And the heroes that help make the set work is the lighting crew. My goodness how the mood moves and changes as the scenes shift and the play progresses through Scrooge’s transformation. Love it!!

I do have one quibble…I invented the word overaccented above. All of the characters speak in Dickensian period English. And 90% of the time that’s not an issue. But during the Christmas Future portion, a couple of cast members were unintelligible to me and I wasn’t that far from the stage in the orchestra seating. Partly garbled and partly too softly spoken…Scrooge was hearing it and he wasn’t happy…I wanted to hear it too!

This is truly a family event…the youngsters sitting in front of me were enjoying it more than I was…so take your family! And I will be a shill here…don’t wait to get tickets…particularly if you want Friday or Saturday night seats!!