A Christmas Carol in South Florida
The Wick Theatre and Museum Club
By: Aaron Krause - Dec 09, 2025
What kind of person kneels before a child, speaks gently, and then — without warning — screams at the youngster?
It’s someone you’ve likely encountered onstage or onscreen: Ebenezer Scrooge.
As Chris Edwards portrays the mean, miserly man in The Wick Theatre and Museum Club's moving professional production of A Christmas Carol, you sometimes want to slap him. Later, you may want to shake his hand and share a meal with him.
Such shifts define this invigorating, believable production, running through Dec. 24 at the Wick’s elegant Boca Raton venue. Under Christopher Michaels’ thoughtful direction, the large, multigenerational cast mostly wins you over in their familiar roles. Michaels helps his actors strike a deft balance between the story’s darkness and light — the very tension that gives Dickens’s tale enduring power.
Dickensian Origins
Productions of A Christmas Carol during the holidays are as common as snow up north, so the plot is likely familiar. Dickens’s 1843 novella drew on his own childhood poverty, including his father’s imprisonment for debt, shaping the story’s social conscience and Dickens’s lifelong reformist spirit.
Scrooge’s story echoes that biography. His father’s time in debtor’s prison helped harden the boy into the cold, greedy man we meet at the start: someone to whom money is life’s chief pursuit. Mention Christmas, charity, or kindness, and he snaps, “Bah! Humbug!”
The tale unfolds on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day in 1843 London. As Scrooge works in his frigid counting house, he ignores the approaching holiday and his employees’ desire to observe it. But during one long, supernatural night, three transformative visits push him from miserliness to meaningful generosity.
A Musical Tradition
The Wick’s musical version was a major holiday staple at Madison Square Garden from 1994 to 2003, with different actors portraying Scrooge each season. It features music by Alan Menken (Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid), lyrics by Lynn Ahrens (Ragtime, Anastasia, Seussical), and a book by Ahrens and Mike Ockrent (Me and My Girl, Crazy for You, Big).
Dark Moments and Tiny Tim
The book contains some particularly dark moments. After the Ghost of Christmas Future enters, she points to a development that could terrify anyone unfamiliar with the story: Tiny Tim’s name on a gravestone. The sight is chilling, especially for this gentle, vulnerable child, and enough to make Scrooge plead with the ghost to undo a nightmarish future.
Tiny Tim is played alternately by Arslan Shamsutdinov and Issa Gonzales, two of the production's several young performers. The company uses two rotating youth casts, “Jolly” and “Holly,” though the Wick did not confirm which performed the Sunday matinee I attended. Regardless, the performer portrayed an affecting, sweet-natured Tiny Tim. Your heart melts when Bob Cratchit (a kindly Brandon Campbell) gently tucks his son into bed while hugging him.
In other productions, the future ghost was The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come, clad entirely in black, faceless, mostly stationary, pointing ominously toward Scrooge’s future. This reinforced the bleakness of the character. In the Wick’s production, the spirit wears red, and Madeline Dunn moves with unforced intensity. Her expressionless face and dramatic dancing and spinning convey Scrooge’s potential fate without words. For this critic, the traditional black, faceless ghost better suggests a grim future.
Other somber moments include a silent passage in which pallbearers carry a deceased person in a casket. The solemnity contrasts sharply with the Fezziwigs’ festive Christmas party from Scrooge’s past — a scene filled with cartwheels, a boy twirling like a top, table dancing, and buoyant music (choreographer Ralph Meitzler, music director Bobby Peaco).
Joyful Transformations
Matthew Guminski’s lighting is appropriately brighter during these joyful sequences than during darker scenes. The dimness at times made note-taking difficult, but key moments remain clear, such as Scrooge hoisting Tiny Tim atop his shoulder at the end and the boy’s heartfelt “God bless us, everyone.” These stage pictures make the production unforgettable.
By this point, Edwards’ voice and face radiate joy as a transformed, laughing, practically giddy Scrooge, awakened to kindness and generosity. He even enters the audience, tossing candy or food to patrons — a marked contrast from the bitter man at the show’s start. In the dim light, his black hat seems to cover his face, grey hair peeks out, and he wields a large cane. At one point, he’s rude to a child, who then purposely steps on his foot. “Good,” you want to say, even though the boy acted wrongly. Edwards’ Scrooge kneels before a child, tells him one day he’ll learn that Christmas is…a HUMBUG! His voice shifts at the end, yelling “Humbug” at the youngster.
Edwards’ transformation is seamless. While the ghosts visit him, moments of change are evident. A Cratchit family scene from Scrooge’s past visibly touches him: he places a hand on his chest, looks around with interest, and even dances along with others during a lively scene. His pleading voice as he begs the futuristic ghost about Tiny Tim’s fate is particularly affecting.
Memorable Specters
The specters themselves are distinct. Larry Buzzeo lends unpredictability and showiness to Marley’s ghost, singing an ominous “Link by Link,” one of several Menken-Ahrens numbers. Dru Loman, as the Ghost of Christmas Past, sings a nostalgic and haunting “The Lights of Long Ago,” while Daniel Pippert, sporting long brown hair and a green-and-white robe, brings festive energy as the Ghost of Christmas Present, matching the Fezziwig party’s cheer.
The actors shine individually and as an ensemble, each present and contributing to the production’s energy. They perform on a functional, dark set by an uncredited designer, with striking projections by Josieu Jean and Kacey Koploff. For instance, in Scrooge’s dwelling, a skull materializes on a projection screen amid fog. And while South Florida weather is mild, seemingly real snow falls at the end, leaving the audience festive and invigorated.
Timeless Themes
A Christmas Carol remains evergreen for good reason: its timeless, hopeful themes of redemption, generosity, and human connection resonate across generations. Artists continue to discover inventive ways to adapt the story, making holiday productions a tradition in themselves. Long after leaving the theater, Tiny Tim’s simple yet profound words linger in your mind: “God Bless Us, Every One.”
IF YOU GO
WHAT: The Wick Theatre and Museum Club’s production of A Christmas Carol.
WHEN: Through Dec. 24.
WHERE: 7901 N. Federal Highway in Boca Raton
TICKETS: Call (561) 995-2333 or visit www.thewick.org.