Ryan Colbert (Fred) and J.C. Cutler (Ebenezer Scrooge) at work. Photo by Dan Norman.

The Guthrie’s 2016 production of A Christmas Carol will not surprise you if you’ve seen it in recent years. J.C. Cutler is still excellent as Scrooge, Mathew LeFebvre’s costumes are still pretty dandy, and the music is just as nice as you recall. There are a couple fresher faces that are now a bit more familiar (Hello, Tyler Michaels! Pity there’s no wire work for you in this show.), sure, and maybe some of those carolers aren’t the ones you remember, but it still tugs at the heart strings. Is that a tear in my eye? Oh, for cute!

For those not familiar with this seasonal favorite, Charles Dickens wrote a novel about a despicable miser who managed to insult– oh, sorry, wrong story. This is the one with a grumpy miser, Tiny Tim and the figgy pudding, questions of work-life balance, near-frantic worries of financial insecurity, and the age-old work vs. romance bind. If we leave out the first two items, it sounds a lot like a play for Millennials, which in this case is to say that it hits a lot of universal themes very well.

Like settling into The Sound of Music or another familiar classic, A Christmas Carol is not the sort of show that you go to expecting surprises. You won’t find any here, except perhaps being surprised that you’re not actually that jaded and it does warm your heart a bit. Joe Chvala returns as the director of this adaptation by Crispin Whittell, which guest-stars a cool but familiar transforming and rotating set by Christopher Akerlind. (Sidenote: If there’s ever a reminder that London’s winter is paltry, it’s the massive panel of windows in Scrooge’s roof. Looks great, freezes you faster than the Polar Plunge.) It’s slick, it has some nice touches, and it’s as familiar as Grandma’s hot dish.

Speaking of hot dish, it’s time for Thanksgiving dinner planning. Could you get that grape salad out of here, please? Let’s have some real Minnesotan food to chase that old favorite Carol. Did you know it turned 42 this year?

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Basil Considine

Basil Considine was the Editor of the Twin Cities Arts Reader from 2018-2022. He served as Performing Arts Editor and Senior Classical Music and Drama Critic for the Arts Reader's first five years, before succeeding Hanne Appelbaum. He was previously the Resident Classical Music and Drama Critic at the Twin Cities Daily Planet and remains an occasional contributing writer for The Boston Musical Intelligencer and The Chattanoogan. He holds a PhD in Music and Drama from Boston University, an MTS in Sacred Music from the BU School of Theology, and a BA in Music and Theatre from the University of San Diego.

Basil was named one of Musical America's 30 Professionals of the Year in 2017. He was previously the Regional Governor for the National Opera Association's North Central Region and the 2021-2022 U.S. Fulbright Faculty Scholar to Madagascar.

Latest posts by Basil Considine (see all)

• DC REVIEW: Anything but Business as Normal in the American Opera Initiative (Washington National Opera) - January 22, 2024
• NYC REVIEW: Spectacular Fulfillment in The Promise (PROTOTYPE FESTIVAL) - January 14, 2024
• NYC REVIEW: Adoration, Myths, and Reality (PROTOTYPE FESTIVAL) - January 13, 2024