Oakdale's 'Scrooge' inviting and fresh
Saturday, December 04, 2004
By FRED SOKOL
Theater writer 

Event: "Scrooge - The Musical" 
Where: Oakdale Theater in Wallingford, Conn. 
Cost: $15-$74 
For more info: Call (203) 265-1501
WALLINGFORD, Conn. - "Scrooge - The Musical," with Richard Chamberlain as dyspeptic Ebenezer himself, is a lovely theater experience. 

The American premiere of the show which recently toured Great Britain, continues at the careerbuilder.com Oakdale Theater through tomorrow. 

Based upon Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol," the Leslie Bricusse (book, lyrics, and music) production arrives with considerable magic including smoke and mirrors. Still, the classic tale will be most recognizable to all in attendance. 

Chamberlain is on stage almost immediately. He is non-evocative of "Dr. Kildare," "The Thorn Birds" or "Shogun." The stage actor is grumpy, disheveled, scornful and, most importantly, very much at home with the current environs. 

The actor is not a singer. Yet he makes the most of many musical opportunities by effectively talking his way through tune after tune. Chamberlain has a fine grasp of phrasing and pace. Keep Rex Harrison's splendid work in "My Fair Lady" in mind as you watch Chamberlain craft a lyric line. 

Besides, Chamberlain, the picture of poise, is masterful with his timing. He holds the audience for a moment before delivering a line. He punctuates harshly during the early going as he personifies the haughty, parsimonious Scrooge. Later, when he sees the light (and Nick Richings' lighting is an asset during the show), Chamberlain's Scrooge grows fittingly more pensive, conciliatory, and giving. This follows the Dickens storyline quite closely. 

Bricusse provides significant stage time for actor George Keating who plays Tom Jenkins, a food seller by profession. Jenkins owes Scrooge a significant sum of money. Keating leads the company in "Father Christmas" early during the first act. He begins the second act with a winning rendition of "The Milk of Human Kindness." 

Scrooge's dead business partner, Jacob Marley (Jonathan Weir), with chains affixed to him, visits. Later, Marley advises Scrooge that the elder man will be shackled even more significantly unless he transforms into a more beneficent soul. If Marley's chains were devised during his lifetime, those for Scrooge, fashioned seven years earlier, will be that much more extensive. 

Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Yet to Come all approach Scrooge. Ebenezer finds that Tiny Tim (Ben Ratskoff, a boy with a lovely soprano voice) will certainly die unless he receives proper medical care. Just in time, Scrooge reacts. He buys presents for those he formerly treated with disdain. He dresses as Santa Claus and, ultimately, befriends all while amplifying good things in this lifetime. 

Director Bob Tomson and choreographer Lisa Kent combine to fuel the musical with spirited production numbers. Paul Farnswoth creats designs including a variety of multi-dimensional set pieces and Paul Kieve facilitates characters who come and go through touches of the very surreal. 

The music director/conductor (Edward G. Robinson) for "Scooge - The musical" began the opening night performance a few moments late since he appeared to be taking some last minute instructions via telephone. Hence, the lead number, "Opening," started twice. 

One of the most influential songs in Bricusse's repertoire is "Make the Most of this World." Chamberlain seems to be recalling those lyrics when he sings "A Better Life" during the second act. At last, he concludes, "I'll Begin Again." 

In all, the current "Scrooge" is inviting, fresh, and nothing short of invigorating. The translation of original Dickens into musical form retains the original messages and expands possibilities. 

Richard Chamberlain, it seems, has forever been the handsome, young "Dr. Kildare," or the middle-aged-but-still-dashing hero of "The Thorn Birds" and "Shogun."

It's incongruous to think of him as craggy, crotchety Ebenezer Scrooge, even if Chamberlain is 70 now. But he's been the bad guy a few times.

"I guess the most villainous role I played was in the (1991) TV remake of ‘Night of the Hunter,' " he says from Appleton, Wis., from where "Scrooge, The Musical" is touring toward the Oakdale Theatre in Wallingford, where it runs Tuesday through next Sunday. "And early in my career I played an assassin ... but I haven't played many villains. It's great fun, actually."

"Scrooge" isn't all bad — or he's only all bad for a while, in this musical adaptation by Leslie Bricusse of Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol." Albert Finney played the lead role and Alec Guinness was Jacob Marley in the 1970 movie version of this show. But that's not the Scrooge Chamberlain says he remembers best.

"I think the first production I saw was the Alastair Sim movie, which was the best," Chamberlain says, recalling the classic 1951 black-and-white movie. "No one will ever equal that."

Sim, says Chamberlain, was at once one of the great high and low comedians, and cast a daunting shadow over the character. It's the kind of thing actors deal with when they take well-defined roles.

"When I did ‘My Fair Lady' I was stuck with Rex Harrison, who I would imitate, and it took me until near the end of rehearsal to break away from my memories," Chamberlain says. "I try to make the Scrooge in this musical as dastardly as possible. It would feel great if the audience booed me in the beginning, which they don't. This transformation is so extraordinary."

The show features special effects by Paul Kieve, whose work was seen and unseen on "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban." It traveled around England before beginning an eight-city U.S. tour in Chicago on Oct. 26, then moved to Minneapolis, Appleton, and Louisville before coming to Wallingford. From Oakdale, "Scrooge" plays Detroit and Baltimore before closing in Philadelphia. It's recommended by the producers for ages 10 and up, since the 2½-hour running time is a long time for a smaller child to sit still.

The redemption of Scrooge, Chamberlain says, is like what a lot of people — including himself — go through, from "ignorant selfishness and closed-heartedness" to something better.

"The opening of one's heart in a lifetime is the main event, I think," he says. "Some people are born with it, and for those of us who are not, it's the job of our lifetime."

Chamberlain says he began a process of self-discovery in the mid 1970s, not based on any particular theology, but rather, "a moderately clear belief system ... something I put together" and added to along the way. Going public last year with his sexuality was part of the process, he says, but only part.

"If you tell me you're straight," he says, "that tells me almost nothing about you."

He was born in Beverly Hills in 1934 and served during the Korean War before turning his full attention to acting, becoming a huge hit in 1961 as the star of the dramatic TV show "Dr. Kildare," which ran until 1966. Fame nurtured him, in a way.

"I had a very low opinion of myself as a young person, and needed a successful career to have some sense of self worth," he says. "So my career was my life until just a few years ago."

After his initial television success, he moved to England and worked mostly as a stage actor. He was in the films "The Three Musketeers" in 1973 and played a villain in 1974's "The Towering Inferno," before coming back to the States and scoring big with the mini-series "Shogun" in 1980 and "The Thorn Birds" in '83.

Through it all, he kept his sexuality a secret — it would have been a career killer in his leading-man days — before opening up last year, when he talked openly about being gay and released a memoir called "Shattered Love." The book touches on sexuality, but also details Chamberlain's spiritual and professional pursuits, and about reconciliation.

"Coming out was a minute occurrence compared to discovering that one's sexuality is the non-event of all time," he says. "The sole, deep realization that being gay is of no concern to anybody but yourself was immensely freeing for me."