Review: ‘A Christmas Carol’ is nothing to ‘bah-humbug’ about

By Chris Brown on November 30, 2018.

NEWS PHOTO CHRIS BROWN
The Spice Girls perform at a 1990s party at Fezziweg's in Scrooge's visit from the Ghost of Christmas Past at the media night performance of "A Christmas Carol." The Charles Dickens classic is this year's pantomime offering from Medicine Hat Musical Theatre. It opens tonight and has nine performances before ending on Dec. 15.

cbrown@medicinehatnews.com @MHNBrown

Medicine Hat Musical Theatre is firmly on Santa’s “nice” list

Did you like the 1990s? Do you have fond memories of the decade? Do you get a spring in your step when you think of “Wayne’s World,” Ross and Rachel and Vanilla Ice? Then you’ll love Medicine Hat Musical Theatre’s pantomime production of “A Christmas Carol.”

And if you didn’t like the ’90s, even if you hated them, “A Christmas Carol” is still worth your time.

The memorable characters, the “bad-in-the-right-way” performances and local references kept Wednesday’s media night audience in stitches throughout.

As with any panto, this one take a familiar story and takes it in some wild directions while maintaining the story’s core. In this case, miserly Scrooge (played by Tony Carlsson) is visited by three ghosts on Christmas Eve and changes his ways in the morning. That’s the familiar part.

The wild directions are a party filled with ’90s characters, bawdy (and body) humour and dames (Simon Clewlow and Steve Krysak). The audience could barely contained themselves from the moment the dames appeared. That laughter was topped only when Tiny Tim (Ryan Holdaway) essentially brought the house down with a simple “God bless us” or two and toast. Yes, toast.

As Scrooge, Carlsson is in every scene and out there almost the entire show. He’s more than up to the task, commanding the stage with humour, sadness, a little obliviousness and a lot of snark.

Encountering a couple of glitches, the performers were quick on their feet with a little improvisation when needed. It adds to the show rather than take away as you might think.

There are nine showings of “A Christmas Carol” at the MHMT Playhouse between tonight and Dec. 15. Get your ticket now, because almost half of the shows, including the three 18+ shows, are already sold out.

Tickets, showtimes and more information are available at mhmtheatre.com

Share this story: