Scrooge, Mayflower, Tuesday 12 November, 2013
It might be a step too far to imagine Charles Dickens turning in his grave, given the plot of A Christmas Carol and the moral story contained therein.
But, thinking about it, he wasn’t averse to cashing in on Christmas, by all accounts – publishing the story on 17th December and clocking up 5,000 sales by Christmas Eve.
Well, Christmas arrived early at The Mayflower in Southampton. A high-budget, slick, no-scrimping, big band, Broadway style version of this much loved story came to town with the ageless Tommy Steele heading the cast as Scrooge.
The packed audience groaned but laughed at - and with - the veteran performer’s wisecracks which were more Tommy Steele than Ebenezer Scrooge.
The children’s story book picture of a Dickensian Christmas scene, created by designer Paul Farnsworth, was colourful, noisy and atmospheric.
As the complex scene changes unfolded with desks and beds sliding in, doors and inns dropping down and special effects galore to feast our senses on, the whole show was a set designer’s dream.
The trouble for me – and I hasten to add that this was a personal slant - was, despite being a great personal fan of Tommy Steele (I had his 45rpm single of ‘A Little White Bull’ and wore it out through overplaying) and knowing that he has played this role many times before, I never actually believed in him as white-haired Ebenezer. Only as the white-dentured, forever young, cheeky Cockney chappy, Tommy Steele - however hard I tried.
I think part of the problem was that his accent swung dramatically between East End and West End and the characterization of such a well known character cannot afford to be anything less than 100%.
It has to be glowering, mean and unbelievably cruel to start and a truly reformed and lovable character by the end. Tommy was always Tommy for me.
The rest of the cast were fortunate in not being so well known, perhaps with the exception of Hi-de-Hi’s Barry Howard as Marley, and faithfully stuck to their characters like glue, thank goodness.
There were some really touching scenes of the Cratchett family’s and nephew Harry’s Christmases, and the crowd/chorus scenes were jolly, well choreographed and entirely convincing.
Halcro Johnston as Mr Fezziwig stole the show for me with his pure Dickens-style idiosyncratic appearance and antics, along with Sarah Joyce as Mrs Cratchett.
An imposing James Head played the larger-than-life Ghost of Christmas Present and, of course, young Tiny Tim - whose voice was a lot clearer to me than some of the main characters, including Scrooge.
The music, by Leslie Bricusse and directed by Stuart Pedlar was beautifully played but totally over-engineered and, frankly, could have fitted into any number of big musicals. The sound balance wasn’t perfect and I occasionally had trouble picking out lyrics amongst the fine, loud and rounded orchestration. I yearned for a little more light and shade and mused at what the original author might have made of it all?
Paul Kieve’s illusions were, of course, impressive; there were one or two moments when you knew something scary was going to happen but they still took you by delightful surprise when they did. Magic is still magic after all.
Nick Ritchings' superb lighting helped with the illusion, and choreography by Lisa Kent completed the colourful, busy imagery. So perhaps my gripes with the overall effect are probably more about me being more grumpy than Scrooge.
Clearly this well polished, big budget show entertained everyone of all ages, brought a smile to everyone’s faces and will be a huge hit, especially with those who like their Christmas to be traditional Victorian theatre with a large dollop of glitz and cheeky humour.
As long as you don’t take it too seriously, this old story of morals, mixed with 21st century showtime is sure to be a great favourite.
Until Saturday - then playing at: 17 Nov - 7 Dec 2013 Grand Theatre Leeds
9 - 15 Dec 2013 Broadway Theatre Peterborough.
16 - 21 Dec 2013 Opera House Blackpool
23 Dec 2013 - 4 Jan 2014 Brighton Centre
6 -11 Jan 2014 Venue Cymru Llandudno
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