Scrooge in Rouge Bennington Theater in Bennington, Vt. Created by Ricky Graham, Jeffery Robinson, and Yvette Hargis Music by Jefferson Turner Directed by John Lugar “A very merry Christmas to you, Uncle E.” An irreverent tone takes the stage at Bennington Theater as their edition of Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” plays out its whimsical variation on this theme.
Having grown up with my grandfather, Harry Percival, and his special take on entertainment (he was a veteran of the English Music Hall as a performer), this year’s choice of the Scrooge story both chilled my blood and thrilled my heart. I can only take one “Christmas Carol” a year at this point in my life, and this one, a musical silliness, was my choice. It was a good choice, almost a great choice.
Here is the premise: A British vaudeville troupe of 20 players is offering their annual Dickens show, but 17 of them are down with food poisoning, leaving only three members to deliver the annual holiday tradition. One, a woman, plays Ebenezer Scrooge, and the other two, both men, play all the other roles. Wordplay, semi-dirty jokes, hilarious one-liners, and a lot of delicious songs fill the two acts of this show, along with audience participation for the key role of Tiny Tim.
A group of Victorian-clad folks serenade the incoming audience with Christmas Carols for a half hour before the show starts, and it does get you into the mood for a filmed welcome to Her Majesty’s Promenade Grand Theatre by Qu.
