A Christmas Carol: All About that Work/Life Balance

A Christmas Carol is a beloved holiday parable that reminds us how the spirit of Christmas can cleanse even the most polluted of hearts. Since Charles Dickens published his novella 180 years ago, the story has been told and retold through every possible medium. Tiny Tim and Scrooge have become caricatures of unrelenting optimism and overpowering greed respectively. Depending on who you are, A Christmas Carol is likely either a ritualized part of your yearly holiday celebrations or has faded into the background as yet another piece of holiday noise.

This year’s director, Addie Gorlin-Han, is in the first category. She fondly recalls attending A Christmas Carol every year through her childhood. During our video call she showed me a memento that she likes to keep in her office. “This is my Christmas stocking, which my grandma gave to me,” she says, holding a gorgeous patchwork stocking close to the camera, “It’s made of costume pieces from Guthrie productions of A Christmas Carol. I keep it in my office as a reminder.”

If I’m being honest, I’m a member of the second group. I know the broad strokes of A Christmas Carol but I’m not interested in the source material and even the 1992 Muppets adaptation doesn’t hold my interest. Bad man gets visited by ghosts and becomes a better man, all dressed in the all-too-shiny wrapping paper of Christmas. It’s not my kind of story.

With that in mind, I attended A Christmas Carol this year fully expecting to like the production while remaining apathetic on the story itself. Imagine my surprise when I enjoyed the story just as much as I did the production.

My delight, according to Gorlin-Han, is likely because of the new script the Guthrie is using. Although 2023 marks the Guthrie’s 49^th year of A Christmas Carol, this is only the third year utilizing Lavina Jadhwani’s adaptation. Gorlin-Han explains, “So many adaptations have extra story and Jadhwani essentialized a version of the play that feels as close to the Dickens text as I’ve ever encountered.”

A Christmas Carol is politically and socially conscious, warning against the corrupting influence of capitalism, bolstering the joy that can be found around a sparse table of people who care for each other, and celebrating the overwhelming delight of a life given renewed meaning.

To underscore that final point, this year a younger-than-usual Scrooge – Matthew Soldivar – was cast. “We cast him because there is something to be said for a Scrooge who changes who has more life ahead,” says Gorlin-Han, “There’s something really cool about having a guy who is in his late 40s, early 50s who then has a whole life ahead of him. Soldivar is also a musical theater actor and comedian, and he really has brought some fun and silly moments to the show.”

Gorlin-Han also mentions a theme I have never heard applied to A Christmas Carol – possibly because the concept is not nearly as old as the story itself. “This is about work-life balance,” she says, “Scrooge is so worried about making money and having a secure life that – of course he’s not generous – but he also gives up the opportunity for love and prioritizes work over family.”

This theme has been especially resonant for Gorlin-Han, who was 39-weeks pregnant at the time of our interview. “Clearly I’m at a place where this is actually happening for me,” she says, referencing her belly, “In this field there’s so much emphasis on sacrificing things for theater and sacrificing for work…I’m just so grateful that the Guthrie is like ‘Yeah, let’s figure it out.’ I don’t think that ten years ago workplaces were ready to do that.”

There are plenty of thematic nuggets to keep you and yours chatting merrily after the production, but that is only the beginning. From the interactive set design and special effects to the stunning costumes (every ghost is more extraordinary than the last) and fast pace of the story, this is a production of A Christmas Carol that even I, a self-confessed A Christmas Carol Scrooge, have to recommend.

The captivating nature of this production is created under the deft hands of a director whose long history with the show allows her to see it through eyes of all ages. “I’m really cognizant of what it means to be a family coming to the show,” Gorlin-Han says, “One of the notes that I gave to an actor recently was ‘Can you play that for the 14-year-old boy in the last row?’ What does it mean to include that kid who maybe has never seen theater or is reticent about being here?”

Gorlin-Han is in large part following in the footsteps of Joseph Haj, (“I’m entirely honoring Joe’s vision for the production,” she says). Still, she and everyone else involved have found renewed depth in many scenes. “I watched Joe manage an entirely new set with some technical challenges and was a part of helping to juggle all of that…This year I get the joy and gift of time – of being able to take a second and third pass at scenes.” She pauses for a moment, “Little things make a big difference.”

“We so often talk about the play being about Scrooge and his reformation and change,” muses Gorlin-Han, “It’s important to realize that the play is about a community of people who set up his change and accept his change.” She goes on to explain how polarized the world is today, which underscores the virtue of the people who made up Scrooge’s community. “I get so moved in the final stage of the play,” she says, “They’re just so willing to embrace him for his change. It’s such a gift.”

A Christmas Carol is a fun, spooky play that is beautifully performed and produced. Any Minnesotan in the pursuit of a cozy bit of theater on a chilly winter night will be delighted by this reinterpretation of the classic Dickensian tale. A Christmas Carol runs through December 30 on the Wurtele Thrust Stage.

Check out the Guthrie website or call the box office for additional information.

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