PROVIDENCE - Few of us go to see "A Christmas Carol" for novelty's sake. Except for the very small, perhaps embarking on a first theatrical outing, the point is to partake in a communal reminder of what this sometimes maddening holiday is all about. Many of us, raised on Dickens's perdurable 1843 bestseller, could probably quote the dialogue by heart. So it's all the more impressive that every year since 1977 Trinity Repertory Company - now the grandsire of New England's bevy of habitual "Carol"-ers - has taken on the double challenge of making it new for the audience and for itself.
A new and spirited 'Christmas Carol'
Abjuring the temptation to trot out the same winning formula (the musical is so popular, it's scheduled for 20 performances a week, necessitating two casts), Trinity Rep, the last true resident company in the country, starts from scratch each holiday season, while adhering to a text devised by former artistic director Adrian Hall and a score by Richard Cumming.
This time out, actor Fred Sullivan Jr., having appeared in 20 past productions, takes on directorial duties. Company costumer William Lane has switched hats to design an adaptable, atmospheric streetscape packed with as many pop-up possibilities as an advent calendar. Assuming the added mantle of musical director, actor William Damkoehler (who plays Scrooge in the "Ivy" cast) has composed a welcome new carol - the old canon has been flogged to death by Muzak - and tinkered with the arrangements.
The opening number starts out ecclesiastical and cheery but quickly shades into minor-keyed polyphony almost reminiscent of "Sweeney Todd," a brilliant stroke. But it's quickly clear that Brian McEleney - Scrooge for the "Holly" cast - was not chosen for his singing voice, as the rapid-fire lyrics are lost. Nor does McEleney seem especially in touch with his Inner Curmudgeon (a persona many of us needn't scratch too deep to tap). His crotchetiness seems put on, like a drab black frock coat - or indeed, like his bowed posture, which, despite Richard Van Voris's lively lighting, makes his face often hard to read.
There ought to be a certain grandeur to Scrooge's outsize nastiness, and McEleney plays him small - eliciting a sure laugh, for instance, by hissing instead of screeching in outrage, but forfeiting some of the drama and muddying the chiaroscuro of this quintessential before-and-after tale. Fortunately, McEleney seems much better suited to the new, improved, post-spectral-visitation Scrooge, kicking up his heels and executing a sincere if clumsy cartwheel.
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