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By MARTY CLEARTwo bay area productions of the Dickens classic A Christmas Carol are mere ghosts of the original.
Up North, people know that Christmas is on its way because the weather gets really, really cold and this weird stuff called snow falls from the sky.
In Florida, we have to rely on subtler indicators. One of the most reliable is an influx of stage productions of A Christmas Carol.
American Stage gets the season under way this weekend with Tom Mula's four-person version of the Charles Dickens classic.
A lot of companies probably stage A Christmas Carol for commercial reasons. Todd Olson, American Stage's producing artistic director, said that was secondary for him.
"I think I'm one of the few directors who still really likes the story," Olson said. "I like it as ghost story, not as Christmas card."
Olson describes himself as something of a Christmas cynic and has chosen nontraditional fare for December, such as last year's Metamorphoses, a strange take on Ovid myths.
But Olson said he's drawn to Mula's play, Jacob Marley's Christmas Carol, because of its unique take on the familiar story and its unconventional theatrical style.
"A Christmas Carol, the original, starts seven years after Jacob Marley's death," Olson said. "Mula's version starts the night of his death. It's the Dickens story, but it's told from Marley's point of view."
Mula has Marley on a sort of work-release program from hell. If he can rehabilitate Scrooge, he can escape eternal damnation.
The play moves between literary and theatrical conventions. Mula has taken liberties with Dickens' work: Bob Cratchit and his family have been virtually eliminated from the action, and at least one new character has been added. But he preserved passages of exquisite prose that are usually cut from theatrical productions because they're virtually impossible to stage. Mula's format allows those passages to simply be narrated.
But it's not a dry, literary staging.
"I think it's uniquely theatrical," Olson said. "It adheres to the laws and conventions of theater. People who know the story will appreciate its compactness. I don't think any of the impact has been lost. In fact, I think just the opposite."
An even more unconventional look at the Dickens story comes from Gypsy Productions. A Queer Carol is set in contemporary New York City. Scrooge is an interior decorator and Cratchit his overworked assistant, whose partner, Tim, is struggling with HIV.
Joseph Godfrey's play has prompted enthusiastic reviews in both gay and mainstream publications. Critics called it warmly funny and human, and noted that it preserved the tone and message of the Dickens story while still providing a refreshing alternative to standard Christmas fare.
Of course, there's nothing wrong with letting a classic be a classic, and for many people it's the traditions that make Christmas special.
For them, the Asolo Theatre festival is offering a more straightforward staging of A Christmas Carol, adapted by Barbara Redmond and Thomas Eberle.
It's set in Victorian England and populated with the characters that made Dickens' story a staple.
PREVIEWJacob Marley's Christmas Carol, Friday through Dec. 18 at American Stage, St. Petersburg. 7:30 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday; 8 p.m. Friday; 3 and 8 p.m. Saturday; 3 p.m. Sunday. $21-$34 adults, $7.50 under 16; "Pay What You Can" night this Tuesday; student rush tickets are $10, 30 minutes before curtain. Preview performance 7:30 tonight. Call 727 823-7529 or go to www.americanstage.org
A Queer Carol, Nov. 25-Dec. 18, Suncoast Theatre, 3000 34th St. S, St. Petersburg. 8 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, 1:30 p.m. Sunday. $16. Call 727 456-0500. A Christmas Carol, Nov. 25-Dec. 29, Mertz Theatre at FSU Center for the Performing Arts, Sarasota. In rotating repertory. $16-$48. Call (941) 351-8000 or see www.asolo.org