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Regional Reviews: Florida - West Coast A Christmas Carol
The production is very much in the style I have come to expect of freeFall and Eric Davis. It is staged with the audience on three sides. Space is vividly and theatrically used. Dancing is reasonably of the period and well executed. Costumes look like a fair representation of Victorian era garb until you look more carefully—materials are much more modern but used in a way that allow them to look of the period. It was startling to me when I first realized that Scrooge's evening robe was a paisley print, but I had to look really carefully to notice that, otherwise, it blends to become a dark maroon-colored Victorian style robe. Everyone except David Mann as Scrooge plays multiple roles. Mostly this works reasonably well, but there are a couple of doublings that I found bothersome. Daniel Schwab plays Scrooge's nephew Fred and also young Ebenezer. Joey Panek's main role is Bob Cratchit, but he also turns up in ensemble scenes, hopefully not as Tiny Tim's father. David Mann is not the most vivid Scrooge I have seen, but that is partly because so much of the character is revealed in Dickens' immortal narrative. There are several children who weave in and out of the production, ranging in age from approximately 5 or 6 to very early teens. They are all delightful, especially the littlest little girl with glasses. Her parents would do well to bottle her adorableness and attempt to market it. What is wonderful about this show is seeing families with young children getting an early taste of live theater. My companion and I had a chance to have a conversation with a family seated behind us. The children were very enthused about what they were seeing and the parents told us that they had searched for a Christmas event to participate in as a family and were pleased with their choice. Another family that we spoke with briefly expressed much the same opinion. This is how future audiences for the theater are built. freeFall Theatre Company presents A Christmas Carol through December 24, 2014, at 6099 Central Avenue, St. Petersburg. For ticket and performance information, visit www.freefalltheatre.com. Cast: (in order of appearance) Director: Eric Davis
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