‘X-mas’ needs more laughs but manages to bring smiles

Don't let the title fool you. Stage Door Theatre's "An X-mas Carol" is suitable for adults and kids alike. The best thing about director/conceiver Terrence R. Williams' improvisation show is the concept.

Williams and a cast of 15 give us the basics of Charles Dickens' 1843 classic tale about a man who learns the value of human kindness. But a few minutes before the presentation begins, the audience votes on who the three spirits are going to be: a historical figure, a personality from the present, and a character from the world of fiction. The actors -- with the exception of curmudgeon Scrooge (Tony Foresta) and his clerk Bob Cratchit (Joe Hynes) -- rotate their roles, and get about 10 minutes to do backstage computer research, come up with an approach, and pick out some costume pieces.

The night I attended, the Ghost of Christmas Past came in the form of Mongol Empire founder Genghis Kahn. The beautifully rotund actor John F. Carson brought the legend to life with an atrocious accent, chest-length black Medusa curls, and a war helmet that looked like something out of a cartoon.

Sarah Palin was the Ghost of Present in the hands of the demure Reagan Pfifer. When she spotted Scrooge in his white cassock, she chirped, "Don't you have something more conservative to wear?"

And Darth Vader made for an appropriately scary Ghost of Future. Actor Michael Beede came up with a great "Star Wars" opener, screaming, "Scrooge, I'm your father!"

The rock of the production the night I was there was Lloyd Ziel as the narrator. He conjured up a character so pompous, condescending, intellectual and jovial, that he made Alistair Cooke seem like a crude tradesman. The way he spit out his under-the-breath wisecracks made you feel he deserves his own revue.

The show didn't quite take off because too often the one-liners that need to zing home weren't there. You want "An X-mas Carol" to blow the roof off with hilarity, but instead it just occasionally makes you smile. On a cold night, though, in the company of shopping-weary friends and family, it can be a good time.

Anthony Del Valle can be reached at DelValle@aol.com. You can write him c/o Las Vegas Review-Journal, P.O. Box 70, Las Vegas, NV 89125.