Glenn Carter and Robert Lindsay in A Christmas Carol at the Lyceum Theatre, London. Picture: Nick Rutter
A Christmas Carol at the Lyceum Theatre, London (the show will also be performed on 18 December).
Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩
At the front of the stage are lined up the cream of musical theatre and enough talent to fill several theatres.
At the back is a 16-strong chorus, many of them with occasional cameos to present, and all of them top-notch young singers.
But the real star of this warm-hearted show is the large London Musical Theatre Orchestra (conducted by Freddie Tapner) which consists of some of the finest musicians in London and sits quite literally centre-stage – it’s a joy to see and hear the accompaniment in musical theatre allowed, for once, to escape from the pit or from a platform behind a curtain.
Dickens’ very familiar story of Scrooge’s transformation, resultant upon the visit, on Christmas Eve, of three spirits conjured up by his late business partner Jacob Marley, unfolds through the music and some very modest stage business.
And it works beautifully because the score is so rich from the Klesmer-style accelerating ‘Link by Link’ to the catchy dance at Mr Fezziwig’s Christmas Ball and the momentous penultimate number ‘Yesterday, Tomorrow and Today’ (score by Alan Menkem Lynn Ahrens).
In the mix are waltzes, syncopated numbers, patter songs, wistful lyricism and more. And Michael Starobin’s imaginative orchestrations make imaginative use of instrumentation to bring out the many moods the piece requires.
It goes with out saying, given the cast list, that everyone at the front of the stage does an excellent job.
Robert Lindsay as Scrooge is nimbly charismatic – both funny and moving – and the fact that he may not be the industry’s finest singer matters not a jot in this context.
There is, however wonderful, singing from Glenn Carter (has he ever done the Commendatore in Don Giovanni?) as the imposing Jacob Marley, from Sophie-Louise Dann as hilarious Brummie Mrs Fezziwig and from Gemma Sutton as the crystalline-voiced Ghost of Christmas Present. And Tobias Ungleson is a bit of a show stealer as Tiny Tim.
The whole performance (directed by Shaun Kerrison) is, in a sense, a joyous celebration not just of Christmas and a time-honoured iconic story, but also of musical theatre itself.
Susan Elkin
www.lmto.org/whats-on/christmas-carol-2017
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