A fantastical “Christmas Carol” like you’ve never seen before

The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey draws its 2024 season to a close with an imaginative, trippy retelling of Charles Dickens’ familiar Yuletide work, A Christmas Carol. As adapted by Neil Bartlett, this Christmas Carol utilizes a cast of eight to portray all the characters in the beloved story — along with clocks, weather, and other things one normally does not see actors embody.

The story is by now familiar to everyone. Miserly Ebenezer Scrooge, a petty tyrant with no regard for the Christmas season, is visited by the ghost of his late business partner Jacob Marley. Marley warns him of his likely punishment in the afterlife and prophecies visits by three other spirits.

The first, the Ghost of Christmas Past, brings to Scrooge’s mind memories of former holidays as a schoolboy and an apprentice. The second, the Ghost of Christmas Present, takes Scrooge far and wide to see the benefits of keeping Christmas. Scrooge is taken to see the meagre holiday celebrations of the Cratchits, the family of his overworked, underpaid chief clerk Bob, and their lame youngest son, Tiny Tim. Finally, the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come, a towering, black-clad, silent figure, shows Scrooge scenes of a future in which he has not changed his ways.

Director Paul Mullins leads his actors through Bartlett’s fantasmic retelling of the Dickens classic. Chief among them is Anthony Marble as Scrooge, whose transformation is subtle and believable, a result of the rich talent Marble brings to the part. The rest of the cast is up to the standard Marble sets in their many parts: Jeffrey M. Bender as the jovial Ghost of Christmas Present; Emily S. Chang as the ethereal Ghost of Christmas Past and the sweetly optimistic Tiny Tim; Celeste Ciulla as Jacob Marley; Gina Lamparella as Mrs. Cratchit; Ty Lane as Scrooge’s nephew Fred; Andy Paterson a comic delight as Bob Cratchit and Mrs. Fezziwig; and Fiona Robberson as Scrooge’s long-lost love, Belle Fezziwig.

As an additional pleasure, all the actors save Marble play objects in the show. You will never consider chiming, ticking clocks in the same way again. You will imagine the joy a light has in being lit. And you will see a mischievous mind behind swirling, blowing snow invading through an open door.

Charlie Calvert’s set, as lit by Michael Giannitti, consists of multiple movable pieces of furniture, doorways, and walls conjuring images of Scrooge’s office, his home, the Cratchit house, and other locations. Three metal scaffolding pieces frame the proscenium, a mid-stage arch, and an upstage arch, bringing to mind the beauty to be found in utilitarian building elements of the late 19th Century. Framed by the upstage arch is a large rotogravure-style image of part of the vast city of London.

Kristin Isola’s period-style costumes are beautiful in their everyday appearance, clearly defining social strata of the time.

A Christmas Carol has been shown many times — on stage, in the movies, and on television. Yet I am hard-pressed to think of a more imaginative, more phantasmagorical production than the one at the Shakespeare Theatre of NJ. You owe it to yourselves to experience the wonder of this newest retelling of the classic tale. I strongly recommend you see A Christmas Carol before its limited engagement ends!

A Christmas Carol is presented by the Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey at the F.M. Kirby Shakespeare Theatre at Drew University in Madison through Dec. 29, 2024. For more information or to purchase tickets, go to shakespearenj.org or call 973-408-5600.