“I will honour Christmas in my heart and try to keep it all the year.” We all know that one. Scrooge’s redemption track after being visited by the three ghosts during Dickens’ most famous holiday work. And of course there’s “God bless us, every one!” a la Tiny Tim from the show’s final moment. But did you know they celebrate Christmas in the workhouse? Or at the lighthouse ship at sea? Many of you familiar with Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol might be scratching your heads thinking— “I don’t remember that in any production I’ve ever seen…” and you’d probably be right. But it’s there. Chesapeake Shakespeare Company, with their new adaptation by Laura Rocklyn, has plucked out some of the more obscure yet truly beautiful moments for this year’s presentation of A Christmas Carol, marrying it alongside all of the iconic moments and well-loved characters. Oh, and it’s neatly tucked away in the streets of Baltimore. Directed by Shanara Gabrielle, with Musical Direction by Grace Srinivasan, and Choreography by Madalaina D’Angelo, this treasured holiday classic finds a charming new lease on life which is just perfect for Charm City.

While Laura Rocklyn’s adaptation stays true to the time period, she’s shifted the setting to bustling Baltimore, the beloved city in which Chesapeake Shakespeare Company resides. So instead of the dirty streets of London or Camden you get Scrooge living in Mt. Vernon just near the shadow of the Washington Monument and the Cratchit Family living over in Fells Point. (And a nod to CSC’s roots as Scrooge’s country school upbringing is mentioned as “Ellicott City” where CSC started 20 years ago.) Charles Dickens himself even plays a brief character, replacing one of the two charitable individuals coming to collect donations of Scrooge in the opening scenes. (There’s some fascinating info in the program all about Dickens’ brief visit to Baltimore.) The references feel naturally placed, nothing is shoehorned in for ‘locality’s’ sake, but they do get quite a few chuckles throughout the evening when mentioned.

Rocklyn’s adaptation also presents the chance for the piece to be a more narrative ensemble activity. Everyone among the players— except Scrooge, of course— takes turns telling little narrative moments of the story, some familiar, some less so. When the play opens (after the period-carol songs sung by a few of said ensemble) you see the players in their wondrous costumes shuffling about on the stage, and then pausing as one great group— each in turn speaking lines of Dickens’ text which predicate Scrooge’s initial arrival. It’s a mesmerizing quality. Rocklyn has also included a great many spaces for song and merriment, something that is both a staple in CSC productions as well as something of a signature stamp. You get no fewer than four songs during the merriment of Christmas Present, including a song about Mrs. Fezziwig’s Christmas Cake! (cleverly adapted from ‘Miss Fogarty’s Christmas Cake.’) The most unique and splendid feature of Rocklyn’s adaptation is not that she gave Scrooge a niece (Frances) instead of a nephew or a young brother (little Freddy) instead of a sister, but the fact that she chose to include the scenes of honest joy and jubilant celebration in both the workhouse and out at the lighthouse during the ‘visits with Christmas Present. Both of these instances involve song, one a more traditional carol, “Rise Up Shepherd and Follow” and the other a more seafaring shanty style Christmas tune. The inclusion of these rarely-utilized moments— Scrooge seeing strangers even in the darkest and most deplorable of conditions still finding and celebrating the joy of Christmas— is an integral part of wholly delivering the message of ‘Christmas leaves it mark on everyone and it’s never too late for redemption.’

The scene is deceptively simple and the cast makes use of all three levels built into the play space. While the majority of the action occurs on the stage floor, both the ghosts of Christmas Past & Present make grand entrances from the second tier and there is the use of silhouettes and projections from the top-most tier throughout the performance. Set Designer Mollie Singer has pieces that move with ease and fluidity in and out of scene, adding to the overall graceful and quick-paced momentum of the performance. Table horses and planks make beds and tables, and Singer even has some fancy trickery in play for the ‘Jacob-Marley-doorknocker’ moment.

If there’s one fault to the show it’s the execution of ‘Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come.’ Director Shanara Gabrielle’s concept is clear— she wants a massive looming gloom-shadow-puppet hovering over the entirety of the stage. Puppet Designer Chester Stacy does create this enormous shadowy grim-reaper-esque figure, but the main sticks controlling the figure (puppeted by Morganne Chu, Shaquan Pearson, and Michael Salconi) at times appear too slack from the gauzy black fabric that creates the thing. There’s one moment during an early encounter with Stacy’s creation— specifically as ‘The Businessmen’ are discussing whether or not they will attend the funeral— where Minjoo Kim’s lighting is perfect that Chester Stacy’s puppet is the exact ominous shadow that you can tell Shanara Gabrielle was hoping it would be. But mostly the effect reads as big dark colored sheets on sticks bopping about during these scenes (sometimes it’s the lighting not creating the illusion; sometimes it’s the way the puppet-sheet-creature is attached to its sticks, allowing for less articulate movement than are require to create the illusion of hands and face in a haunted shroud of robes.)

Haunted mishap aside, Director Shanara Gabrielle has worked Laura Rocklyn’s adaptation into something wholly enjoyable, particularly with all of the musical merriment, spearheaded by Grace Srinivasan. The only thing more delightfully joyous in this production than the songs is Kristina Lambdin’s costumes. The sartorial selection for this production is simply outstanding. Of course there are the more traditional street-milling togs of the Dickensian era transplanted to Baltimore, which is what most of the cast wears, but the costumes that find their way to Ghost of Christmas Past & Ghost of Christmas Present are nothing short of illuminating, quite literally. Even if Lambdin hadn’t literally lit up Ghost of Christmas Past’s dress with over a hundred twinkling faerie lights, there are pieces among the ensemble— like Frances’ blue and gold affair that looks like decadent drawing room drapes transformed into a period costumes appropriate for the young woman— that make Lambdin’s efforts well worth praising.

Minjoo Kim’s lighting design was mentioned briefly in that puppet debacle, but the rest of Kim’s efforts are quite stunning and impressive to behold. There’s a moment early in the production where Kim brings heavy rays of orange dripping down over the set to clearly indicate that the sun has gone, the day has passed, and the workday in the counting house has ended. There’s also quite a bit of fanciful illumination for the magical transportations provided by the ghosts, all Kim’s finery featured readily throughout the performance.

While every performer has an assigned role (with most having at least two or more) they truly move, perform, and tell the story as one collective ensemble. The way the story ebbs and flows naturally from in-scene characters interacting with one another, to observant narrators recapping or explaining what has just happened, continuing to happen, or about to happen— is truly a wonder and it resonates beautifully in the minds and the hearts of the audience. Featuring Greta Boeringer, J. Bradley Bowers, Morganne Chu, Lauren Davis, Kate Forton, Kyle Hermary, Troy Haines-Hopper, Lauren Erica Jackson, Jade Jones, Molly Moores, Shaquan Pearson, Benny Pope, Samuel Richie, Michael Salconi, and Emily Zinski— this ensemble of 15 take on the narrative toll of what feels like ten times that, but they do so with great exuberance, unwavering mirth— even in the moments when the story is bleak and grim— and much intrigue all throughout the performance. (A special note of praise goes to Ellen Cattle, the performance’s Fiddler, who lively engages with a great many of the musical moments on stage, adding to the gaiety and merriment of the evening.)

Of course there are three performers not mentioned in the gloriously engaging ensemble— young Emilia Endy and young River Robinson, as well as Alex Jones, who play Belinda Cratchit, Tiny Tim, and Young-Scrooge’s younger brother/turkey boy respectively. Two of these youthful performers (Endy and Robinson) also appear, albeit briefly, as the horrors Ignorance and Want, manifesting as grasping claw-hands from beneath the spirit of Christmas Present’s robe. Robinson, as the iconic youngest Cratchit, is what everyone expects from the child with the play’s final line, cherubic and sweet. Emilia Endy is similarly spirited as she bounds round the Cratchit household with the other Cratchit children— Peter (Kyle Hermary) and Martha (Jade Jones), with Martha being the obvious grown-child in the bunch. Young Alex Jones is full of the joys of Christmas when coming to fetch Young Scrooge (Shaquan Pearson, who is equal parts moody and humorous during his stint in the ‘past’ scenes) and Jones has the whole audience in robust giggles when he interacts with Scrooge as the Turkey Boy near the end of the show.

Other striking performances Lauren Davis as Frances, Scrooge’s niece. Davis is as effervescent as the spirit would imply, keeping Christmas in her heart with a merriness that just bubbles all about her. She drifts merrily and with jolly delight all through the parlor games during the ‘Christmas Present’ visit and keeps her mirth and merriment even when confronted with her grousing, grumping uncle in the opening scenes. Mr. Fezziwig (Michael Salconi) and Mrs. Fezziwig (Molly Moores) are another pair that just light up the stage all during their scene at the infamous Fezziwig Christmas party. Salconi cuts and capers all around the stage, igniting the start of “Mrs. Fezziwig’s Christmas Cake” and Moores chips in with some great reactive responses. (Props to the choreographer, Madalaina D’Angelo, who has put a resplendent effort into all the jigs and fancy footwork featured here and in the other moments of dance.)

You get Bob Cratchit, of course, played admirably by Samuel Richie, whose voice is kind and well spoken, and who finds a way to calm Mrs. Cratchit’s (Emily Zinski) temper during the “toast to Mr. Scrooge moment.” There’s just something earnest about the way Richie approaches Cratchit; it makes for an enjoyable performance. The same is true of Morganne Chu, playing Belle, Scrooge’s one-time love of the past. She is endearing and coyly flirtatious but in that ‘tortured’ moment of their parting, her emotional fortitude washes over the stage like a tidal wave.

Serving as driving narrative forces for both Scrooge and the audience, Ghost of Christmas Past (Lauren Erica Jackson) and Ghost of Christmas Present (Troy Haines-Hopper) deliver performances to be reckoned with. Jackson’s personality is as sparkling and glowing as her light-up ballgown, alighting her giddiness all over the stage as she drifts to and fro. Even when she’s showing Scrooge less pleasant memories of his past, she has this wondrous happy innocence about her; she radiates kindness. So too does Troy Haines-Hopper. With his booming voice and personality you get the notion that he embodies he larger-than-life spirit character; he even gets glowing candles in the wreath of holly wrapped around his head. While Jackson and Haines-Hopper present very different elements of the story it is clear that their trajectory shares in earnest the welfare of Scrooge’s soul and both contribute to his journey splendidly.

As for the man himself, Mr. Ebenezer Scrooge (Gregory Burgess) there is something to be said for a seasoned performer reprising the role of one of Christmas’ most iconic nay-sayers. Burgess manages to keep the portrayal of Scrooge fresh and lively; you never feel as if the character’s transformation is a foregone conclusion, even if there is an immediate softness the moment he starts regretting things during the exchanges with the Ghost of Christmas Past. Burgess toes the fine line of making this grouchy curmudgeon perfectly balanced, showing his playful side during the dancing at Fezziwig’s party and again during the parlor games at his niece’s home. But the true giddiness and lightened soul comes out to play at the end, creating a stark contrast to Burgess’ otherwise frost-bitten demeanor.

A delightful holiday tradition, newly renovated for this year— Chesapeake Shakespeare Company’s A Christmas Carol captures the essence of Christmas just in time for the holidays. It’s running a limited engagement through December 23, 2022; don’t miss your chance to experience the magic and the miracle of a transformative Christmas tale!

Running Time: Approximately 1 hour and 50 minutes with one intermission

A Christmas Carol plays through December 23, 2022 with Chesapeake Shakespeare Company— 7 S. Calvert Street in Baltimore, MD. Tickets are available by calling the box office at 410-244-8570 or purchasing them in advance online.