For some reason, people love to watch a crisis unfold before their very eyes. Fires, traffic accidents, and an assortment of other tragedies all attract large crowds of onlookers – all of whom are thrilled that the action in front of them is happening to someone else and not themselves. At What's That Smell? Productions' Box Theatre in downtown Mt. Clemens, theatergoers get to triple their thrill-seeking pleasure as THREE crises for the price of one play out simultaneously before their very eyes – but THIS time, with happy endings for everyone involved.
The triple threat comes in the form of the holiday comedy "A Christmas Carol…more or less," a title which perfectly suits this cute holiday production. Yes, it covers all the territory of Charles Dickens' classic tale – more of less – but it also explores the backstage drama of a small theater whose owner suddenly discovers the cast and crew of its holiday show are trapped in a snowstorm and will not be there on opening night. So with the ticket-paying public already in their seats, a quick decision must be made: Either refund the ticket money and go broke, or come up with a "Plan B" that will satisfy the crowd and owner alike.
Not wishing to shutter her three-year-old theater, Sarah Cunningham (played by Michelle Lareau-Witulski) opts for the second solution. Since her husband, Charlie (Benjamin Feliciano), knows "A Christmas Carol" by heart, she decides to stage a two-person "Christmas Carol" with him as Scrooge and herself as every other character in the story.
Charlie wants no part of it, however. He's planning to move to Los Angeles – with or without his wife and son – to become a writer for the television game show "Wheel of Fortune" and couldn't care less about the theater. But a bribe that could change a possible divorce settlement does the trick, and soon the three crises – Scrooge's, the theater's and the couple's – hit the stage for 90 minutes of fun and laughs.
What makes "A Christmas Carol…more or less" a unique holiday treat is its manic, madcap approach to the traditional Dickens' tale – and the inventive way the time-honored plot morphs to help resolve the couple's relationship.
While Feliciano plays Scrooge and a couple of other roles, it falls to Lareau-Witulski to portray the vast majority of the story's 28 characters and four ghosts. And she does so with gleeful abandon: Costume pieces are tossed on willy-nilly and then stripped off in mere seconds, furniture is lugged from one side of the stage to the next, and dressmaker dummies are rolled in and out. And she barely has time to catch her breath before she has to leap over yet another set piece or two to grab another prop or hat.
Conversely, Feliciano's Scrooge is much quieter, far more deliberate in his words and actions, and slower paced. It's a fine contrast that serves the show well. He also gets most of the show's best "ad-libs" – whether scripted or improvised. But while most are perfectly delivered, some were mumbled on opening night or delivered too softly to be heard in the last (fourth) row.
Also not cooked well enough yet is the relationship between Sarah and Charlie. Their anger and disappointments with one another are underplayed at the opening, as are Sarah's reactions to Charlie's attempts at reconciliation during the play – which means the finale doesn't deliver quite the same holiday punch it otherwise would.
REVIEW:
'A Christmas Carol…more or less'
What's That Smell? Productions, The Box Theatre, 70 Macomb Place, second floor, Mt. Clemens. Nov. 27-29, Dec. 3-6, 11-13 & 17-20. $16. 586-954-2311.
