CARLYLE - I was asked to provide a personal assessment of Scrooge in Space, and as I attended the event on Dec. 3, I thought I would.
I sat in row eight, seat one, and attended the play with my friend Boyd Cochrane. When the curtain was raised, a ripple of excitement carried through the crowd. Captain Cratchit (Lane Easton) and the Engineer (Shannon Klatt) opened the play and caught my attention. Moments later, Megan Mcauley as Snarky and Monte McNaughton as Scrooge appeared and the story started to flow. There was a lot of singing and dancing and I’ll highlight my favourite parts of the play.
-Both Megan and Monte had strong performances as did Leola Hirtle, who played the Ghost of Christmas Past, the Navigator and Old Jo. A lot of roles for one actress. Well done.
-Throughout the performance, the band was awesome. Michele Amy (piano), Morgan Turk (guitar), Jason Junk (drums), Todd Greenwood (bass) and Gillian Maher (fiddle) played flawlessly and were a cohesive unit throughout.
-In regards to Gillian, she sat at the front of the stage on the right side. She was also the prompter for the full 2 1/2 hours and had a very important role. An unsung hero. Well done Gillian.
-Shannon Klatt as the Engineer was hilarious with his ad-libbing and Scottish accent. Denise Singleton and Dianne Twietmeyer, who dressed up together as Fezzi and Wig in their double blue outfit, were awesome. Erica Armstrong, with her role as the Foreign Crew member talking gibberish, was priceless. When an empty chair inadvertently fell into the band, Scrooge had a great impromptu line. “They don’t build the stages as big as they used to!”
-Fred Perry, who was the narrator and officiant, has a wonderful voice and I could watch his antics all night long. Grant Taylor capably played the role of Young Scrooge, among others, and his ponytail was the butt of a funny line.
-The set was colourful and the settings changed quickly and quietly. Both Boyd and I commented on the number of costumes worn. The sound effects of the Star Trek door opening and closing was very entertaining. The light show emitted the movie projector was also appealing to the eye. The behind the scenes volunteers were noted.
All in all, a great performance by the Carlyle Theatre Group. I didn’t mention everyone, notably veteran David Slykhuis, but to me the play was well written and I was happy to be in the crowd. Congratulations to Megan and the rest of the crew.
