Scrooge
By Ray Bennett
LONDON (Hollywood Reporter) - Tommy Steele was the country’s first rock ’n’ roll star in the ’50s, and while his music was more pop than rock, he claimed a life-long place in the affections of fans, making his unlikely casting in the title role of "Scrooge" a charming success.
Steele has retained the cheeky effervescence of his upbringing in London’s East End so that he never convinces as Charles Dickens’ nasty old miser, but it really doesn’t matter. Over the decades, he has transformed himself into a winning entertainer; there’s even a plaque in the celebrated Palladium Theatre hailing him for headlining more shows than anyone else on that star-studded stage.
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With his toothy grin and habitual blink, Steele remains spry at a year less than 70, and both his comic timing and pleasing voice are in fine fettle. He carries the production just as Oscar-nominated Albert Finney did in the 1970 film version.
Leslie Bricusse also was Oscar-nominated for the film’s script and music, and for the show’s most tuneful song, "Thank You Very Much." It wasn’t performed onstage until 1992 with Bricusse’s former partner, Anthony Newley, in the cast.
Their partnership, of course, produced an array of wonderful songs from the stage hits "Stop the World, I Want to Get Off" and "The Roar of the Greasepaint, the Smell of the Crowd." Newley was performing the latter on Broadway when Steele was starring there in "Half a Sixpence."
Bricusse without Newley, however, is less than half the whole team, but stage director Bob Tomson injects more oomph into the proceedings than Ronald Neame managed with the film.
Illusionist Paul Kieve has been brought in to make the appearance of the familiar ghosts quite spectacular, and Barry Howard, Gemma Page, James Head and Ian Sanders make the most of them, though Sanders is hidden beneath the mask of a giant grim reaper. A large cast of children also adds to the fun.
Like Bricusse, designer Paul Farnsworth spurns the darker aspects of Dickens’ tale, preferring to emphasise the more appealing aspects of the Christmas story. Choreographer Lisa Kent’s dance arrangements are similarly breezy, and the whole show is designed less as an examination of Victorian poverty than an occasion for carol singing and jollity.
As such, so long as Steele is around to keep things merry, "Scrooge" will continue as one of the warmer chestnuts of the season.
CAST:
Scrooge: Tommy Steele
Jacob Marley: Barry Howard
Bob Cratchit: Glyn Kerslake
Harry: Tom Solomon
Bess: Claire Parrish
Tom Jenkins: Alex Gaumond
Ghost of Christmas Past: Gemma Page
Ghost of Christmas Present: James Head
Mrs. Cratchit: Susan Humphris
Tiny Tim: Laurence Belcher
Book, music & lyrics by: Leslie Bricusse; Based on "A Christmas Carol" by: Charles Dickens; Director: Bob Tomson; Designer: Paul Farnsworth; Illusions by: Paul Kieve; Choreographer: Lisa Kent; Lighting designer: Nick Richings; Sound designer: Mick Potter; Musical director: Stuart Pedlar.
Reuters/Hollywood Reporter
