Gordon Greenberg and Steve Rosen found a formula that works.
They take classic stories by Pantheon writers — Dickens, Dostoevsky, Stoker — and move them from London, Russia, or Transylvania to local settings filled with local references and inside jokes that charm and tickle hometown audiences,
In “Ebenezer Scrooge’s Big Jersey Christmas Show!,” Greenberg and Rosen find a context to whisk literature’s most miserly malcontent from Victorian London and settle him in 19th century New Brunswick, New Jersey, with touches that smack of current times.
In the George Street Playhouse production of “Scrooge’s Big Jersey Christmas Show!,” Scrooge’s house is not in the shadow of St. Paul’s Cathedral but on George Street, just past some familiar restaurants and Rutgers. Characters speak of the Brunswick Square Mall, Wawa, and other local joints, often to hearty audience response.
Greenberg directs, so his intentions and style of presenting them are clear. This staging of “Scrooge’s Big Christmas Show” seems neatly tailored to do well by Dickens, his time-honored story, and the various Mid-Jersey landmarks it mentions. Scrooge, in one of his ghost-led visions, even receives a festive Christmas sweater in bright green with a prominent New York Jets logo. (Of course when this Philadelphian who considers Boston to D.C. his hometown saw the green, he was about to cheer for his favorite, the Eagles.)
Having Greenberg on site is an advantage. “Ebenezer Scrooge’s Big Christmas Show” is available to any theater that chooses to stage it. In an interview I did with Greenberg and Rosen, they spoke of providing a script that leaves blanks where local references are needed. The title in each locale is changed so where the George Street production reads “Big Jersey Christmas Show,” the traveling script replaces “Jersey” with “Your Town Here.”
The balance of Dickens, light comic hijinks, and local color makes for an amiable show that remains breezy and entertaining for its 80-minute duration.
Fun is stressed over substance, so while emotion is elicited, the George Street production does not attain the depth a traditional “Christmas Carol” might. Ease is Greenberg’s ticket, laughs his aim, so the ghosts of Christmas past and present can be as sarcastic as they are instructive, and sequences that usually tug one’s heart are often mitigated by a joke or sight gag. Tiny Tim is represented by a puppet that sits on Bob Cratchit’s lap and is worked by actor Nehal Joshi, who gives Tim a reedy, falsetto voice.
As befits a puppet.
Greenberg and Rosen designed their show to be economical, so Scrooge’s nephew’s Christmas get-together is populated by his immediate family, including young children and not the festive adult crowd usually seen. Neither Fezziwig nor his opulent Christmas party receive much prominence, Scrooge’s aborted engagement to a renamed Belle — George Street’s stingy advertising card passing for a program again tells you nothing … unless you use a QR code that reinforces how businesses today, even theaters, place burden on their customers instead of congenially providing service — being used more as a means, funny in its way, of getting Scrooge to America, than showing how he gave up his one chance at varied life and love.
Any expectation of being touched by the Dickensian would be in vain, but the talent of Greenberg’s cast and the sure-handed comic tone of the production provide their own rewards. Greenberg and company are amusing. They may take for granted you know Scrooge’s story and have seen enough productions of “A Christmas Carol” that put sentiment ahead of merriment, but I found myself smiling and enjoying Greenberg and Rosen’s invention and the cast’s excellently executed antics throughout the show.
“Ebenezer Scrooge’s Big Jersey Christmas Show!” is not only a clever idea. It is a cheery divertissement that provides a good time and has an ending that brings the holiday spirit directly to you.
That ending is the culmination of a running joke.
Throughout the “Big Jersey Christmas Show,” the depicted New Brunswick residents lament they have no theater or place in town to stage a Christmas extravaganza.
Look at Greenberg and Rosen’s title, and you’ll guess what happens.
Knowing doesn’t spoil the moment Scrooge produces the show his fellow citizens crave.
Talk about redemption!
And a rousing sing-along to go with it.
Greenberg’s cast is uniformly marvelous, four of the five playing at least a dozen characters, some within seconds of each other.
Only Kevin Pariseau, as Scrooge, gets to play a lone role, and he does so expertly.
Pariseau’s first mention of Scrooge makes fun of the usual portrayal of the miserly misanthrope. On cue, he turns to the audience, makes a clawlike motion with his right hand, and says “Ebenezer Scrooge” in a stock sinister voice.
After that, Pariseau does what a canny actor playing Scrooge, especially a Scrooge with comic undertones, should do. He plays him as a man who seems oblivious towards other people’s attitude about him, whether it be fear or disdain.
Pariseau’s Scrooge is everyday and matter-of-fact in his demeanor and habits. He does not preach or admonish people. He simply states his point of view and chides others for what he regards as the folly of theirs.
Pariseau is never bitter or mean as Scrooge, only direct and to the point he intends of make. He sees his behavior and stances as quite within a realm of ordinary comic sense.
By not exaggerating Scrooge’s stinginess, cruelty, or disregard for what others deem important, Pariseau neatly sets up the scenes in which he travels with the Christmas ghosts and sees his past and the way his present should be.
He’s open to the visions and enjoys the memories. They may not make him as sad or reflective as they would in a traditional “Christmas Carol.” Pariiseau instead becomes curious when shown his life and what he may be missing. He shows you Scrooge’s awakening without overplaying it.
This makes Scrooge’s transition all the more logical. Pariseau’s Scrooge seems impressed with what could have been and can be. There’s a nice moment in which he hesitates before boarding the ship that takes Scrooge to America. It’s one of the more serious parts of Greenberg’s production. The joke that accompanies Scrooge’s walk up the gangplank also resonates more because of Pariseau’s pause.
Nehal Joshi, who plays Scrooge’s nephew, Fred, and Tiny Tim among others, is gregariously conventional as Fred while going into various modes as he goes through his slew of roles.
Orville Mendoza is a refreshing Bob Cratchit. He never cringes in Scrooge’s presence. Nor does he seem to ever get angry or upset as his boss’s insults or penchant for making Cratchit work under hard conditions.
On the contrary, he takes Scrooge’s hard treatment in stride, smirking as if he knows his employer and is more amused than dismayed by him. As with the entire cast, Mendoza aces all the other roles Greenberg and Rosen assign him.
It’s a good thing I’ve been a Michele Ragusa fan since seeing her in “Nunsense” at the bygone Pennsylvania Stage Company 35 years ago.
Otherwise, I’d have had to resort to the dreaded QR code to distinguish her from Carolyn Wake, another I’ve enjoyed in several productions, as they play roles that seem interchangeable and are often done in tandem.
Ragusa is hilarious as the no-nonsense ghost of Christmas past who speaks in a strong regional accent, hurries Scrooge along, and rolls her eyes when he seem to express regret or surprise at something he left behind or once enjoyed. She’s more like the teacher archly goading you into doing better than someone coddling or sympathetic.
Wake can also be testy as the ghost of Christmas present, looking askance as Scrooge sees and hears what he doesn’t know is happening around him, and taking delight when he seems to be realizing his faults or evaluating what he’s been missing.
Wake also provides an impressive operatic trill in a running joke in which she and Ragusa, playing sisters, are almost blown away by the wind coming through Scrooge’s doorway.
Tristan Raine’s costumes are period enough to suggest an earlier time while being witty in regard to the character he’s dressing. Adam Koch’s efficiently mobile set, including a doorway that seems acrobatic for something inanimate, keeps Greenberg’s production moving at a brisk pace. Rob Denton’s lighting gives texture to scenes, in particular when the Cratchits visit a cemetery or during Scrooge’s Christmas Eve walk home. Carolyn Wake also serves as music director and should be lauded for the tight harmonies and festive tone she and her casemates achieve.
Ebenezer Scrooge’s Big Jersey Christmas Show!, George Street Playhouse, New Brunswick Performing Arts Center, 11 Livingston Avenue, New Brunswick. Through Sunday, December 21. 7:30 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday and 2 p.m. Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday. $64 to $110. www.georgestreetplayhouse.org or 732-246-7717.
