A reinterpretation of the Christmas Carol by the B Street Theater - Sacramento

One of my favorite pieces of Dickens is The Christmas Carol, which he wrote in the 1840s to immediate success. The B Street Theater in Sacramento is presenting a "reinterpretation" of the classic. I came to it with some trepidation. In recent years there have been a number of reinterpretations of the original story including ones using George C. Scott and BIll Murray. None, IMHO, was satisfying as the original. Dickens' language is concise and elegant.

The B street production begins with the premise that Dickens has a deadline to supply his publisher with a Christmas story and is on deadline and blocked. The characters are campy and I must admit when I first discovered that this was a reinterpretation that I was not looking forward to it. But the play is lots of fun. It gets to the same essential point of reconciliation that Dickens' original work does but in a thoroughly delightful alternative path. This could well be another option for theaters and even for a movie version.

I am always amazed when an artist is able to create something novel from something that I know well. I read the Christmas Carol each December. I could recite major parts of it by memory. This production offers a new look that is well worth a second view, or even a third. I hope the B Street Theater decides to present this again.