Where was the real joy and mystery of Christmas — lost out at sea? Don’t despair, joy and mystery can be found at an Aurora playhouse, And not at a performance of a Nutcracker with big angry mouse! Last Saturday night at the Riverfront Playhouse, the kids in the front two rows of seats were having a blast jabbering and laughing away. They became so exited at times with all the clowning and pratfall on stage some screamed out changes to the drama unfolding on stage.
One brave young kid revised a line she heard Sherry Schultz mouth about Shawn Dooley as Howard behaving like a 6-year-old” to a “2-year-old.” Sherry, without missing a lick, made the correction “yeah, he does act like a 2-year-old!” and got a round of applause from the upfront peanut gallery. It was not just the youngsters caught up in Jack Schultz’s clever musical version of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. Everyone in the audience from the ages of 18 to 100 was having a great time.
No couch potatoes at this whirlwind production. It was a vaudeville-like circus of delights with, at one point, gypsies up and down the aisles lifting purses, watches, and other personal items, which they would at the end of the show return. They nabbed my coat and the lady sitting beside me temporarily lost her purse. What an excellent way to get your audience to bond with the show.
There is a lot of dancing in this show, especially the fantastic A Ghoulish Tango with choreography by Jackson Schultz, who played the ghoul to perfection. There is a real family, several in fact, up there on stage reviving year after year this timeless tale of an old man who decides to rejoin the human race and regain a passion for helping people in need. I have watched Thommas Dickens play the role of Scrooge for many years now. This is not an easy role to master.