Vpstart Crow Productions is back, with its seasonal presentation of Charles Dickens's classic tale, "A Christmas Carol." Sort of.
The accomplished Manassas theater group, known for its distinctive attitude and skillful production style, changed its public name to Virginia Shakespeare Company a year ago as part of an effort to attract wider audiences. But that effort apparently didn't fly. A new Vpstart Crow is on the Cramer Center stage with Dickens's story of a miserly old man whose life and soul are redeemed by the spirit of Christmas.
The Scrooge story has been a regular Vpstart Crow holiday feature over the years, but the current production is not a visit to those Christmases past. It's an entirely new production, with a new script and a new cast. Steve Cramer, owner of the theater that bears his name, has taken over as Vpstart Crow's guiding artist for now and penned his own adaptation. Cramer, who also directs, uses Dickens's original narrative as much as possible, a straightforward, by-the-numbers approach that has its own merits, even as the staging lacks some of the spark that made the old troupe's version so appealing.
Cramer puts Dickens on the stage as a character, where, played with a pleasing mixture of authority and self-amusement by Sean Garvey, he guides the audience through Scrooge's long Christmas. That puts some of the dialogue usually spoken by the characters into Dickens's mouth. For instance, we don't hear from Tiny Tim, who is relegated to a mute and minor role in Cramer's version.
Three individuals share "scene directing" credit, suggesting an artistic vision diluted by having too many cooks involved in the hasty rehearsal process. (Because of the theater company's problems, the show was mounted rather quickly.) Another factor draining some of the zest is the diminishment of the Scrooge character, both by Cramer's adaptation and by the flat performance of Tim O'Kane.
O'Kane doesn't plumb the depths of Scrooge's ugly temperament in the opening scenes deeply enough to make his transformation all that conspicuous.
The rest of the cast fares much better, with quite a few animated performances. Jay Tilley is downright scary as the fearsome, grave-dusty ghost of Scrooge's old partner, Jacob Marley, and is also mesmerizing as a somewhat mischievous Ghost of Christmas Present. Marie Weigle is particularly fetching as Belle, the young Scrooge's former fiancee, and Mary Arnold, a sixth-grader at Holy Family Academy, is striking as Ghost of Christmas Past. Arnold is an interesting choice, as Cramer has returned to Dickens's usually overlooked idea that this spirit is a combination of old and young specters, a concept presented with clever use of special effects.
"A Christmas Carol" continues through Dec. 19 at the Cramer Center, 9008 Center St., Manassas. Performances on Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m., with Sunday matinees at 2 p.m. Tickets are $20 for adults and $15 for students and seniors. For individual tickets, go to www.tickets.com or call 800-955-5566. For group sales or more information, call 703-365-0240. No information is available online.
