People’s Light presents A Christmas Carol, adapted from Dickens by Zak Berkman

This 182-year-old novella is my favorite seasonal Victorian text. Every year, I enjoy reading about one arduous night that transforms a tight-fisted wealth hoarder who disdains his employees and anyone else in need into someone who understands his own underlying humanity and past trauma.

Timeless and relevant

The People’s Light production feels both timeless and relevant to current issues. The playbill locates the time as “now and 1843” and the place as both “here and Dickensian England.” Berkman’s core script gently reminds us that every Amazon warehouse worker, Uber driver, and local gig worker are actual “people” who make “wealth possible,” just like Bob Cratchit. With lines like “born this way” and arch jabs that mock spiritual performativity (“Ebeneezer comes from Christian stock” but it’s a “thin broth”), the messaging in the script is subtle yet clear: “humankind must be our business.” The core script is beautifully poetic with repetition of the phrase “he recognized” and words focused on inspiring both Scrooge and the audience.

Each production element contributes to the atemporal, spectral feel, including lights by Ebony Burton and shadow projections by Emily Schulman. Sound designer Larry Fowler contributes an eerie buzz to kick off the show, and a violin screech with violet lighting effectively signifies the cycle of trauma. Scenic designer Anton Volovsek whimsically strings Christmas lights throughout the theater while grounding the performance in a sheet-covered attic full of things that could easily exist in Victorian England, Colonial America, or the present day. Jerrilyn Duckworth’s costumes contribute to the timeless feel with neutral-colored shifts and leggings.

Onstage synthesis

The design team uses paintings, frames, and sheets for scene shifts and to portray unworldly phantasms. The entrance of Marley’s ghost showcases the synthesis of stage, lights, set, costumes, choreography, and sound. Duckworth’s imaginative costume produces a Jacob Marley whose fabric strips overflow across the stage frighteningly while the cast performs intricate movements as his spectral arms. The captivating costumes continue with the Ghost of Christmas Past’s bell-bottomed jumpsuit, Ghost of Christmas Present’s natural-haired rainbow crown, and the dresses for Mrs. Fezziwig and her adopted daughter, Belle.

Delightful direction from Molly Rosa Houlahan uses synchronicity between past and present, always maintaining energy without losing gravitas. The well-cast ensemble fills the stage in a way that feels organic and perfectly spaced, sharing narrating duties with a smooth cadence that ping-pongs across the stage, switching between American and English accents (shout-out to dialect captain Mary Elizabeth Scallen, who also plays Mrs. Fezziwig). Each cast member is an active participant onstage, even when not speaking or creating a tableau or sound effects. There’s a great eerie moment involving the couch.

The show’s fluid quality highlights effective collaboration between Houlahan and choreographer Christine Octavia Shaw. The show’s movement is deceptively simple yet perfectly timed, including when the Cratchit family forms an R&B-style girl group followed by the family’s table-setting antics. Likewise, music director Justin Yoder does justice to Mitch Chakour’s arrangements and Zak Berkman’s original music with a garret-located orchestra playing folksy, Celtic-influenced tunes.

“We’re all joined together”

The show boasts great vocals too, with excellent work from each cast member. As the Ghost of Christmas Present, Chabrelle Williams’s vocal range easily shifts from alto to soprano with operatic overtones and the ability to stand out or gracefully harmonize. David M. Lutken’s height and baritone voice make him a great narrator and a supernatural Marley. Gabe Moses (doubling as dance captain) does justice to Scrooge’s nephew Fred with a mix of joyful physicality and grave respect for his uncle. Anna Faye Leiberman brings controlled power as the bell-bottomed Ghost of Christmas Past.

Kanoa Sims and Madeline Garcia offer maternal wisdom and vocal warmth as Emily and Martha Cratchit, and I also loved watching them as socially awkward charity workers in the face of Scrooge’s rudeness. Moses and Scallen as dueling vendors are another highlight. And Ian Merrill Peakes is a delight as Scrooge, gradually revealing his soft underbelly.

This is a moving production, and the theme of “we’re all joined together” is something that will carry you through the holiday season and beyond.