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| A CHRISTMAS CAROL Last Night | |
| Posted by: sergius 09:18 am EST 11/20/22 | |
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| Jefferson Mays is odd. He has always seemed out of time, not quite wherever he is. And he’s often floridly manic. In A CHRISTMAS CAROL these unique qualities mostly work to his advantage. He’s basically reading the Dickens classic to us, except he isn’t; he’s playing it, accompanied by a crucially good stage and sound design, full throttle. This can seem too frantic at times—and too loud—but, by and large, Mays is wonderful here, a perfect match of personality and character(s). It helps that he avoids what is so often cloying about presentations of this story and sticks to its strangeness. And its shadows. Scrooge is not just a comically miserable fussbudget, he’s disconsolate. Mays manages to capture his moods more entirely than many and so this CHRISTMAS CAROL isn’t exactly delightful. The light comes, but the tunnel is, as it should be, long. | |
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| re: A CHRISTMAS CAROL Last Night | |
| Last Edit: Delvino 01:10 pm EST 11/20/22 | |
| Posted by: Delvino 01:07 pm EST 11/20/22 | |
| In reply to: A CHRISTMAS CAROL Last Night - sergius 09:18 am EST 11/20/22 | |
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| You land on an aspect of Scrooge sometimes overlooked: the man is willfully the curmudgeon he has become, not a clueless victim of his narrative. So many iterations work with the suspense-free arc that Scrooge's ghosts are contemporary therapists. Though this single night is decidedly an intervention, in a sense, only the first ghost, uncovering the origin story, functions thus. Scrooge should rightly balk at what Chayefsky famously called a rubber-ducky story, refusing to settle on some childhood/adolescent anecdote as the basis for his acquired misanthropy. Sounds like Mays holds onto the adult persona Ebenezer created as long as he dares, cutting sentimentality from a tale often lazily clotted with it. | |
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| re: A CHRISTMAS CAROL Last Night | |
| Posted by: comedywest 10:41 am EST 11/20/22 | |
| In reply to: A CHRISTMAS CAROL Last Night - sergius 09:18 am EST 11/20/22 | |
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| A very good assessment...that is to say I really agree with it. Mays, the special effects, and the puppetry and combine to make for a good show. That said...The audience--at least those near me in the orchestra--was annoying to say the least. Two people twice down in the third row or so got up and came back--twice. And in the row behind me the same thing. I mean, it's only 90 minutes or so. Try to sit still. The show deserves better than that. |
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| re: A CHRISTMAS CAROL Yesterday's Matinee | |
| Posted by: PaulGrin 04:32 pm EST 11/20/22 | |
| In reply to: re: A CHRISTMAS CAROL Last Night - comedywest 10:41 am EST 11/20/22 | |
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| I was at yesterday's matinee. I've seen Patrick Stewart's one man version of "A Christmas Carol" many times and I didn't feel that I needed to see another one. A friend of mine had an extra ticket and since it was Jefferson Mays, I happily said yes. I loved him in "I Am My Own Wife' and "A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder." He's such a fine actor and he inhabits all of Dickens' characters in his own unique way. I particularly loved the dinner scene at the Cratchit home. Many of the design elements were stunning - alternately spooky and hauntingly beautiful. And as a fan of Sufjan Stevens I was happy to hear snippets of his music which helped create a dreamlike mood. If you're looking for a show to put you in the holiday spirit, this is the one. I really enjoyed it. | |
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| re: A CHRISTMAS CAROL Yesterday's Matinee | |
| Posted by: showtunetrivia 05:17 pm EST 11/20/22 | |
| In reply to: re: A CHRISTMAS CAROL Yesterday's Matinee - PaulGrin 04:32 pm EST 11/20/22 | |
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| I saw Mays’ CAROL at the Geffen in 2019. An incredible experience. I tried to get tickets to see it again, and I never, ever do that. Money is an issue here. But damn, it was good. Probably it was better for our budget that the run was sold out, given that financial matters got even worse with Covid and hideous plumbing disasters. Laura in LA |
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