Scrooge’s life offers hints for yearlong joy

Keeping Christmas in our hearts all year long isn’t the easiest task. Bills pile up. Responsibilities wear us down. People disappoint us. It’s plumb hard to stay charitable, merciful, benevolent.

But if anything can remind us about the spirit of the season — and how to keep it alive all year long — it’s Charles Dickens’ keen tale “A Christmas Carol,” opening tonight at the Penobscot Theatre. We can learn a valuable lesson from old Ebenezer Scrooge, his ghastly journey and the enormous changes he undergoes.

Transformation, after all, is available to all of us, especially at Christmastime. And like Scrooge, when we realize the joy of keeping a daily dose of the holiday essence in our hearts, then we’ll know exactly what to do and how to live.

Transformation is not just in the script of this production, adapted and directed by Mark Torres. It’s in every one of the actors, beginning with Stephen McLaughlin in the lead role. Last week, McLaughlin was struck ill and hospitalized with a disorder of the stomach. He returned to rehearsals less than a week ago, a comeback that makes his incisive, graceful and wry performance all the more impressive.

The 11 other actors as well as various stage hands, lighting designer Lisa Tromovitch and costumer Ginger Phelps are in the business of making magic, too. Wearing all black and occasionally donning costume pieces, the actors slip in and out of characters and scenes like Santa sneaks in and out of chimneys. On a stark stage, there’s not much left but words and body language and, except for a few lines which are too softly spoken or muddled by unsuccessful stabs at accents, this group knows how to tell a tale.

A natural at acting, Julie Lisnet, as Christmas Past and other parts, is one of the strongest of the supporting cast. John Veilleux is well-cast as the nephew and, though he’s a teen, plays a dreadful old Marley. Thankfully, Lily Christian intelligently and unsentimentally plays the role of Belle, and astutely adds music and charm to other roles as well.

Jay H. Skriletz, Leslie Adams, Marty Hughes and Robert Bennett all put in enjoyable performances. The production is much enhanced by the presence of the three young girls, Lani Corson, Stevie Dunham and Ashley Emerson, plus the wee Alexander Bennett as Tiny Tim. Corson also plays Christmas Past, and Dickens’ words couldn’t be more poignant than when spoken by such an ethereal child.

“A Christmas Carol” will be performed Dec. 10-23 at 7 p.m. Thursdays, 8 p.m. Fridays, 5 and 8 p.m. Saturdays and 2 and 5 p.m. Sundays. There are also a limited number of tickets for 10 a.m. Dec. 10-13. Also a 7 p.m. show will be performed Dec. 20-22 at Penobscot Theatre. For tickets, call 942-3333.