A Christmas Carol (Blessed Unrest)

"A humanizing warmth flickers through this stripped-down 'A Christmas Carol'...A full-company dance number to Lady Gaga’s 'Applause' is an energetic high point. But, too often, the action is strangely far away, and there is a deadening effect to the script’s insistence on emphasizing social injustice even more than Dickens does in his original story...The show does include some lovely performances...Many other roles lack that vividness, and there is never a sense of a world firmly created." Full Review

"A tasteful yet eclectic and unique experience indeed; Opatrny and Burr prove that they understood the true essence of the original story while also showing that they clearly had a wonderful time bringing their creative vision to life...It is truly a beautiful story, and the production brings forth the plot's heartwarming nature with such fervor, incorporating into it a bit of laughter and spirit that, although expressed in ways Dickens might not have foretold, brings this story to new life." Full Review

"Wonderful, faithful and stylized adaptation...Its accomplished staging, design and racially diverse and gender-fluid performances all make it a stimulating and thoughtful experience true to the spirit of Charles Dickens...Playwright Matt Opatrny has very skillfully pared down the 1843 novella into a swiftly effective, taut retelling...Director and choreographer Jessica Burr has created a number of dazzling moments with her precise unison of expressive staging, movement and dance." Full Review

"Smart and funny staging abounds...The players handle multiple roles with dexterity, humor, and heart...Throughout, director Burr deftly manages a mélange of social commentary, supernatural visitations, flashbacks, comic business, metatheatrical kidding around, and sentiment, all in the service of a classic story we seem to need to keep retelling. A couple of preachy passages are a small price to pay for a bright, family-friendly entertainment." Full Review

"Some elements of the performance still shine—Becca Schneider and Nathan Richard Wagner are particularly charming in all their roles...Yet the careful choreographed flow of the piece itself is somewhat muddy after three years on the shelf...Sluggishness means slow scene transitions...The result is a piece that seems to lag...Other sections explaining the social conditions in Scrooge's world...lean toward the melodramatic-Shavian." Full Review

"This poignant show is both familiar and, thanks to Jessica Burr’s direction and choreography, a step beyond…While long passages of the original tale abound, the deft ensemble does an outstanding job of using contemporary speech to get the audience to connect to isolated Ebenezer…Constant stage activity, cheerful chucking of apples, much joyful dancing and the occasional ‘Happy Hanukkah’ greeting continually make this production a joy to watch." Full Review

"Enthusiastic ensemble cast members assume more than 30 roles, fluidly and effortlessly, moving from one role to another. The actors deliver raw, physical, and often athletic performances…The play preserves the basic story of 'A Christmas Carol,' and even with its many creative moments, a traditional family audience will still enjoy it. The play, however, drags a little...The fast-paced surfeit of fast-changing dialogue and scenes, although all well-choreographed, became a bit exhausting." Full Review