Memories of Theaters Past

What could be more festive for Yuletide than Charles Dickens’s classic ghost story A Christmas Carol?

It is a show dear to my heart as it was the first-ever theater production I saw at the tender age of eight at the Northampton Repertory Theatre in England with a group of classmates from my local prep school, which undoubtedly inculcated my love of theater and drama.

I would also attend regularly – paying the equivalent of 20 cents – to sit in the Gods at the top of the auditorium, enthralled by the ever-changing program. The 138-year-old, 460-seat theater has now been renamed after Errol Flynn, who started his acting career there in the ‘30s.

Even the classic films starring Alastair Sim, Albert Finney, and George C. Scott as Ebenezer Scrooge, hardy annuals on myriad TV channels, continue to garner boffo ratings decades on.

Ensemble Theatre Company’s new adaptation at the New Vic by British scriptwriter Patrick Barlow and directed by Jamie Torcellini with a minimal cast of five actors playing the ghostly and myriad other roles is an absolute Christmas cracker.

Mark Capri as the miserly Scrooge is a Dickensian delight.

The show is poignant, touching, and comedic with the other actors – Bo Foxworth, Regina Fernandez, Louis Lotorto, and Jenna Cardia – adding mightily to the festive romp.

Prior to the show, which runs through December 18, the company’s artistic director Jonathan Fox joined members of Montecito Bank & Trust’s VIP travel and entertainment MClub for a bountiful brunch at the Scarlett Begonia, a tiara’s toss down West Victoria Street, explaining how the second show of the company’s season came about.

Joining in the Christmas revels, while scoffing Eggs Benedict and quaffing mimosas, were Sybil Rosen, Anne Luther, Lynda Millner, Dana Newquist, Robert Luria, Christine Hollinger, Carolyn Gargano, Sandra Sheehan, Helga Morris, Garrison and Kathy Bielen, Maria McCall and Dirk Brandts.