I could tell you about the secret behind Marley’s Magic Door and the physics of Scrooge’s Miraculous Hat Trick. Or reveal how the Ghost of Christmas Present grabs his glowing, jewel-encrusted mug out of midair. Or describe the legerdemain that transforms a plump roast turkey into a carcass in the blink of an eye.
Yes, I could tell you about the things that have made South Coast Repertory’s version of “A Christmas Carol,” now in its 27th annual incarnation, such a perennial audience favorite and an enduring Orange County tradition. I spent an evening watching the show from backstage and witnessing its inner workings – the people, machines and stagecraft that make it run.
But if I squealed they’d have to kill me – the 13 hard-working stage technicians, 16 enthusiastic children and the veteran performers, many of whom have spent more than two decades making this “Christmas Carol” an experience like no other. (Hal Landon Jr., who plays Ebenezer Scrooge, is enjoying his 27th year in the role – an American theater record.)
Divulging “Carol’s” secrets would be tantamount to stealing SCR’s crown jewels, I was told. It’s a production that actors and backstage crew return to year after year – even people like Don Took, 67, its Jacob Marley of many seasons, who is semi-retired. Clearly, the show is as much of a good-humored annual get-together for cast and crew as it is an Orange County performing-arts tradition.
“I know this sounds cheap and sentimental, but I love Christmas,” said John-David Keller, who helped SCR’s former literary manager Jerry Patch with the adaptation of Dickens’ best-loved story and has been directing the play since its debut in 1980. Keller also plays jolly old Fezziwig, which would explain the large fat roll he was strapping to his stomach.
“This is Orange County’s Christmas tradition. I know of three generations of some families who have seen it. We estimate that 60 percent of the people in the audience on a given night have seen it before.”
Each year, Keller faces what he calls “a balancing act. You want to change certain things, but not so much that you disappoint the (regulars) who are expecting it to look like it did last year.”
Always changing
The show changes incrementally from production to production – not only Keller’s direction, but the cast and set as well. This year, there are three new actors in the lineup. Scrooge’s office has received a face-lift.
“There are a couple of veteran pieces that have been here since the beginning in 1980, but they’re nothing the audience can see,” said SCR’s technical director, Jon Lagerquist, who has been shepherding the production since he arrived at the theater in 1985. “This is our third (Scrooge) office (and) our third bedchamber.”
Lagerquist led a quiet and fleet-footed backstage tour during the first half of Tuesday’s “Christmas Carol” performance. It’s a shadowy but intense world of black-clad technicians who move sets on and off stage with a tricky combination of brute force, a watchmaker’s precision and perfect timing. Secrets such as the Cratchit turkey transformation were revealed (I know but I’m never telling). Two prop tables and two prop cabinets bristled with items. Small pushcarts for the outdoor crowd scenes were poised and ready, as was a quietly humming fog machine, which is used liberally during Scrooge’s ghost-filled bedchamber scene.
OK, OK, I’ll reveal a couple of “Carol” secrets. Landon’s famous somersault (he vaults off the bed and somehow ends up with his hat on his head) is made easier by angling the bed slightly downstage. And the flying mug is thrown by a stagehand who has to lie flat on his back in a small, coffin-like space below Scrooge’s bed. “He never misses,” Lagerquist said.
Two seasons ago, Lagerquist shifted all major set pieces onto wagons – wheeled platforms, many of which are guided by tracks – to make scene changes even faster. Most sets split into two mammoth halves and are withdrawn to opposite wings while their upper portions are whisked vertically into the fly space. Such large-scale changes take no more than 10 seconds. Later, sets are pulled back into the wings and others take their place on the tracks. The tolerances in the wings are very tight, but the major moving is done when the actors are onstage and thus out of harm’s way, Lagerquist said.
There were a few minor fluffs. Fezziwig’s platform jiggled slightly. A flat swayed when an actor brushed against it. A stage technician was slightly late getting into position. Lagerquist scribbled notes in the dark: fixes in the making.
Backstage, others toil in slightly less frenetic environments.
“This is a fairly wig-heavy show,” said wig-maintenance technician Kelly Meurer as she worked on the tresses of Hannah Sullivan, 12, of Westminster, who plays Belinda Cratchit. ” ‘A Christmas Carol’ reminds me of an opera – lots of supernumeraries who all need some hair work.”
Sullivan is one of two young actresses playing the role of Belinda. The show’s 16 child and teen performers are divided into eight-member red and green teams who alternate playing the younger roles: one performance is red, the next green.
They’re managed by Lisa Ackerman, who sports the most unusual title in the program: child wrangler.
“I was in ‘A Christmas Carol’ six years ago,” she said. “I know the play well, and I know these kids. I’m responsible for making sure they’re ready and properly dressed.”
Ackerman led her charges in a pre-show warm-up exercise. “Breathe in. Breathe out,” she instructed. “Let all the stress of the day go away with that one breath. With your next breath, bring yourself into the world of the play.”
Cookies and cracking up
In the actors’ dressing rooms, loose, rib-poking camaraderie reigns.
“What’s new this year?” Landon asks, repeating my question. “My insoles. They’re new this year.”
Homemade cookies are passed around and Victorian accoutrements are donned as the performers reminisce about the interlocking histories of “A Christmas Carol” and their own careers.
“I’ve had two roles over 26 years,” said Howard Shangraw, who plays Scrooge’s nephew Fred. I was the originator of young Ebenezer.”
“This is my 21st year. I haven’t owned a script in about 12 years,” said Martha McFarland, who plays Mrs. Fezziwig. “On the first day of rehearsal I always think, ‘Oh, I’ve forgotten the lines.’ Then it starts and out they come.” McFarland, like Landon a founding artist who has been associated with SCR since its birth in 1964, also teaches at the company’s Theatre Conservatory.
Fellow founding artist Richard Doyle isn’t sure how many times he’s been in “A Christmas Carol.” “Somewhere in the 20s, I guess,” said Doyle, who plays the Ghost of Christmas Past.
Art Koustik, another founding artist, has missed only one year of the production. “A motorcycle accident,” he admits, looking sheepish.
Took, who has played Marley for “more years than I can remember,” is taking life easier now. He moved last year from Orange County to North Hollywood, and he’ says he’s happy to be out of the audition treadmill.
But as Took prepares in the darkened wings to make his big entrance into Scrooge’s bedroom, he seems like a much younger performer at the peak of his game. Laden with the character’s chains, he nevertheless looks light on his feet as he winds up, then rushes headlong through the door.
“The faster you pass through it, the better the illusion is to the audience,” said Lagerquist.
As long as Took owns the role, Marley’s Magic Door will remain magic – one of those “wow!” moments that make SCR’s “A Christmas Carol” (and, for that matter, a night at the theater) so irresistible.
Contact the writer: 714-796-7979 or phodgins@ocregister.com