Review: A Christmas Carol
10/10
Aaron
Ah, Christmas. To quote our good friend Andy Williams, it's the most wonderful time of the year. Every gentile family celebrates it in their own special way — caroling, baking cookies, painting portraits and knife fights are all very common ways for the American family to express their joy during this season.
However, no knife fights are to be found in our house. Instead, we've started seeing "A Christmas Carol" at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis.
This year, the Guthrie has changed up their production of the play. After what I believe has been 17 years in a row, they've introduced new actors, new sets and a new script to replace the old performance.
I'm no connoisseur of theatrical productions, but I can certainly tell a good play from a bad one. And in my humble opinion, this play was marvelous!
I can't compare it too well to the previous version. Although I did see it, my memories of it are hazy. All I know is that we had better seats last time.
Sub-par seating, however, did not stop me from loving the play. We found our seats at around 12:50 in the afternoon, with the play starting at 1 o' clock. I spent most of the time marveling at the set, which was a Victorian London street. The grey/blue color scheme, faint fog in the air, and darkened theater gave the whole place a cold, wintry feel.
At 1:04, the lights in the theater dimmed, the audience quieted, and we were told by a mysterious announcer to silence our cell phones. Then, the play began!
I'm not going to be talking about the story or anything, as we should all be familiar with the classic Dickens tale already.
The play lasted around an hour and forty-five minutes, not counting the intermission. The acting was superb, with Ebenezer Scrooge being the classic cantankerous man he is, with a bit of humor to make him still slightly likable.
All members of the cast were fantastic, the choreography impressive, and with quick scene transitions. Special effects were limited, but well-executed. The ghost of christmas past flew by on cables, and fog machines, trapdoors and strobe lights created an eerie aura when in the presence of the ghost of christmas yet to come.
Content-wise, nothing struck me as very inappropriate or anything, so children of all ages, or easily-offended adults, would all enjoy the play. However, loud noises, thunderclaps, and other effects could potentially upset younger kids.
The length of the play is bearable, so whiny younger kids that don't really like plays could either sit through or be forcefully sedated for the length of the production without too much hassle. They might not enjoy the play too much, as a great deal of the humor would probably go over their heads, and there aren't gunfights or robots that battle huge dragons. But I'm quite confident their adult escorts would like it.
All in all, the play was superb.
Conclusion: Acting, special effects, length, humor and sets were all to my liking. And the concession stand was reasonably priced. It certainly makes for a great pre- or post-Christmas outing, and I recommend it fully.
However, no knife fights are to be found in our house. Instead, we've started seeing "A Christmas Carol" at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis.
This year, the Guthrie has changed up their production of the play. After what I believe has been 17 years in a row, they've introduced new actors, new sets and a new script to replace the old performance.
I'm no connoisseur of theatrical productions, but I can certainly tell a good play from a bad one. And in my humble opinion, this play was marvelous!
I can't compare it too well to the previous version. Although I did see it, my memories of it are hazy. All I know is that we had better seats last time.
Sub-par seating, however, did not stop me from loving the play. We found our seats at around 12:50 in the afternoon, with the play starting at 1 o' clock. I spent most of the time marveling at the set, which was a Victorian London street. The grey/blue color scheme, faint fog in the air, and darkened theater gave the whole place a cold, wintry feel.
At 1:04, the lights in the theater dimmed, the audience quieted, and we were told by a mysterious announcer to silence our cell phones. Then, the play began!
I'm not going to be talking about the story or anything, as we should all be familiar with the classic Dickens tale already.
The play lasted around an hour and forty-five minutes, not counting the intermission. The acting was superb, with Ebenezer Scrooge being the classic cantankerous man he is, with a bit of humor to make him still slightly likable.
All members of the cast were fantastic, the choreography impressive, and with quick scene transitions. Special effects were limited, but well-executed. The ghost of christmas past flew by on cables, and fog machines, trapdoors and strobe lights created an eerie aura when in the presence of the ghost of christmas yet to come.
Content-wise, nothing struck me as very inappropriate or anything, so children of all ages, or easily-offended adults, would all enjoy the play. However, loud noises, thunderclaps, and other effects could potentially upset younger kids.
The length of the play is bearable, so whiny younger kids that don't really like plays could either sit through or be forcefully sedated for the length of the production without too much hassle. They might not enjoy the play too much, as a great deal of the humor would probably go over their heads, and there aren't gunfights or robots that battle huge dragons. But I'm quite confident their adult escorts would like it.
All in all, the play was superb.
Conclusion: Acting, special effects, length, humor and sets were all to my liking. And the concession stand was reasonably priced. It certainly makes for a great pre- or post-Christmas outing, and I recommend it fully.
