Expand<\/a><\/p>\nFirst seen and heard in a 1970 movie starring Albert Finney, and then retooled into a 1992 stage version, the Bricusse score doesn\u2019t push any boundaries (happily, the musical spirit of \u201cOliver!\u201d and even some \u201cMy Fair Lady\u201d blithely spirits around the proceedings).<\/p>\n
There is a last century rollicking ensemble number \u201cThank You Very Much.\u201d But most of the bluntly self-descriptive song titles like \u201cI Hate People,\u201d \u201cIt\u2019s Not My Fault\u201d and \u201cI Like Life\u201d are simple and aim to articulate feelings in the moment more than advance the plot, which traditional book musicals strive to do.<\/p>\n
As to that plot, Bricusse\u2019s version may not be for all Charles Dickens purists because the composer fiddles about with the source material. And darned to even dare suggest it, but it\u2019s possible some of these changes improve on the original.<\/p>\n
For instance, The Ghost of Christmas Past turns out to be not just any ol\u2019 anonymously pesky haunter, but Scrooge\u2019s dead sister. And as the figure who redeemed him from childhood isolation and loneliness it makes sense Jenny (renamed from the original Fanny) gently tour guides Scrooge to Fezziwig\u2019s party and his meeting with Isabel, his life\u2019s love, whom he alienates in favor of money, as he will time and again in every human encounter.<\/p>\n
Here Scrooge is played by Bruce Goodrich, one of the 14-member cast with a Chance pedigree. The veteran actor also chaired Cal State Fullerton\u2019s Theatre and Dance department for a time.<\/p>\n
Director James Michael McCale and Goodrich have worked up an interesting departure from the traditional crotchety, wizened and terrified Scrooge. Instead, the tall and lean Goodrich presents us with a vital, middle-aged Victorian loan shark, not at all denying his self-created shortcomings.<\/p>\n
While this Scrooge may be a bit scared of his sleepless night, and a bit defensive of his choices as a younger man, ultimately there\u2019s almost an eagerness in coming to terms with the toll his choices have cost him.<\/p>\n
Goodrich has a high-pitched voice, strong and confident, essential for the character\u2019s four solo numbers, and for leading the ensemble through half a dozen others.<\/p>\n
Another singer who is particularly adept, and shrewdly cast as both cheery nephew Harry (for some reason not Fred in this version) and younger Ebeneezer in flashback sequences is Corydon Melgoza. Paired with radiantly voiced newcomer Sophie Sonntag as young Ebenezeer\u2019s beloved, their duet in \u201cHappiness\u201d manifests the song\u2019s title.<\/p>\n
With a strong cast top to bottom, performances of note include Justin Riley\u2019s Jacob Marley, whose operatic baritone elevates the warning of \u201cMake the Most of this World.\u201d Winston Peacock\u2019s Ghost of Christmas Present is especially winning with decidedly John Belushi-esque jollity.<\/p>\n
In the performance this reviewer saw, Amy Sorensen\u2019s Tiny Tim (she rotates in the role with Audrey Moore) fulfilled the mission of any and all Tims, which is to get an appreciative \u201cawwwww\u201d from the audience after an assured, piping voiced rendition of \u201cThe Beautiful Day.\u201d<\/p>\n
The production credits outnumber the cast and a lot of their work is front and center.<\/p>\n
Dialect coach Glenda Morgan Brown stamps out any American vowels possibly skulking around the cast. While this tin ear can\u2019t attest to Brown\u2019s achieving 100% Henry \u2019iggins specificity of London street-by-street accuracy, we relish her successes, in speech and song, when hearing soft, middle-class mercantile British voicing to ubiquitous East End cockney.<\/p>\n
This is a gloriously well sung show. Music director Lex Leigh\u2019s full cast harmonies are constantly strong. Though the male voices are greater in number, the top notes from the five female singers land as though from a practiced, full-time chorale.<\/p>\n
Choreographer Niko Montelibano\u2019s movement in tight quarters is satisfyingly on display. Early on, there is a delightful economic pairing of five couples arranged vertically towards the stage front, then evolving this dance into a reel.<\/p>\n
Montelibano\u2019s neatest visual joke comes as \u201cMake the Most of this World\u201d builds and the vocal chorus slowly menaces Scrooge in full Michael Jackson \u201cThriller\u201d lurch (though the choreographer double-downs a full zombie too many during Scrooge\u2019s potential postmortem hellscape scene).<\/p>\n
Touches abound.<\/p>\n
Sound designer and engineer James Markoski\u2019s deep echoes for Marley\u2019s clanking chains rumble through the hall. Costume designer Gwen Sloan\u2019s period garb feels apiece across the cast, with Scrooge sporting hints of almost dandified dress.<\/p>\n
Even the patriarch of Chance Theater\u2019s local, latter-day Medici supporting clan, Wylie Aitkins, is on board as dramaturg. The program features his ruminative overview of \u201cA Christmas Carol\u2019s\u201d origins.<\/p>\n
This review isn\u2019t totally fezziwiggy over the show as it now stands.<\/p>\n
A scrimpy prop set, leaving screen projections to provide atmosphere and detail, is perilously becoming a Chance trope of late. Leigh delivers fine English music hall pacing\u2019s at solo piano, but Bricusse\u2019s score hungers for arrangements outfitting, at the very least, an instrumental quartet.<\/p>\n
Plus, a couple grumbles aimed at Bricusse\u2019s ghost wherever he may be resting not too gently.<\/p>\n
The end of this narrative noticeably short sheets cathartic emotions for the familial recipients of happy Scrooge\u2019s newfound benevolence. And, perhaps criminally worse, in this version not one of the torrents of scripted \u201chumbugs\u201d gets preceded by a single \u201cbah.\u201d<\/p>\n
All this notwithstanding, the abiding hope here is that \u201cScrooge! The Musical\u201d enters Chance\u2019s Christmastime canon.<\/p>\n
With all due respect to Jane Austen and Louisa May Alcott, and in whatever form they are rendered, other Christmas-themed narratives inexorably fall short compared to the primal resonance of Dickens.<\/p>\n
\u2018Scrooge! The Musical\u2019<\/p>\n
Rating: 3 1\/2 stars, (out of 4 possible)<\/p>\n
When: Through Dec. 21. Performances 7:30 p.m. Thursdays; 8 p.m. Fridays; 3 and 8 p.m. Saturdays; 3 p.m., Sundays; additional performances at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 17 and 7 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 21.<\/p>\n
Where: Chance Theater, Cripe Stage, 5522 E. La Palma Ave., Anaheim<\/p>\n
Tickets: $58-$116<\/p>\n
Information: 888-455-4212; chancetheater.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Traditions flourish at this time of year, but that doesn\u2019t mean they can\u2019t be shaken up a bit.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":89403,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[163,165,164,5311,420],"class_list":{"0":"post-89402","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-anaheim","8":"tag-anaheim","9":"tag-anaheim-headlines","10":"tag-anaheim-news","11":"tag-theater-arts","12":"tag-things-to-do"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89402","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=89402"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89402\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/89403"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=89402"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=89402"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=89402"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Bruce](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/OCR-L-SCROOGE-1210-05.jpg\"\/)
<\/p>\n![\"Bruce](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/OCR-L-SCROOGE-1210-06.jpg?w=620\")
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