As always, I find it interesting to see what parts of the book make it into any adaptation of "A Christmas Carol" and the made for TV musical from 1984 starring Kelsey Grammer is no different!
This production opens with scenes of various people around London. I noticed a few kids picking pockets and giving the goods to an older man. I presuming this and the beadle running around are nods to "Oliver Twist" and create kind of a "Dickensverse." I like it!
The introductory scenes with Scrooge take place at the Exchange rather than his office. He encounters a man looking for more time to repay his loan. This man, Smythe, has a daughter named Grace who pops up a lot.
Scrooge also deals with Bob Cratchit, whom he reprimands for having a cold that's a waste of time, and a trio (for some reason) of charity solicitors. He also meets his nephew Fred along the way and they carry their conversation back to Scrooge's office.
Scrooge also runs into the three characters who, as mentioned last time, will later reappear as the spirits. Scrooge blows off each one in turn and they each give him a cryptic warning.
Bob has already gone home and picks up Tiny Tim to shop for Christmas while Scrooge goes to his house. He interacts with his charwoman, who is refreshingly not called "Mrs. Dilber" here. She's "Mrs. Mops," which seems a bit literal, but fun!
Right before Scrooge talks to Mrs. Mops, he sees Marley in the doorknocker, which he mentions to Mrs. Mops, who then gets the expository dialogue about Marley having died seven years ago and all.
Once Scrooge is settled into his chambers, Marley's Ghost appears and does a song-and-dance number with the other phantoms who keep appearing inside Scrooge's house. It's a bit odd!
Marley's Ghost as portrayed by Jason Alexander is unimposing.
The Ghost of Christmas Past, who was the lamplighter, appears from the smoke in a candle with a cool special effect then starts to show Scrooge his past by way of a big book, which is also kind of cool.
They fly back into the past and we get perhaps the biggest twist in the whole thing: we see Scrooge's father get dragged off to debtors prison! The family is separated and Ebenezer is forced to work at a factory. I presume this is all an intentional nod to the childhood of Charles Dickens himself, as similar events happened to him.
This is very interesting as it drastically changes Scrooge's backstory. First, his mother is alive. It's implied in the book that she had died at some point, possibly before Ebenezer was sent off to school. Second, Scrooge's father is not mean or cold to him.
I like a little something different, but I will say that this almost gives Scrooge too strong of a motivation for trying to make money, as he's afraid of the same thing happening to him and his potential family.
This makes the break-up with Emily (the Belle character) not as convincing. He says that Emily had never been poor, so she doesn't know what it's like. So, it's not like they were both poor, then grew apart because Ebenezer sought to make money. And if she's not poor, maybe he would still seek her out, because maybe she would have a dowry.
I realize I'm overanalyzing this, but it's there.
In a much less drastic change from the original book, Emily/Belle is present at Fezziwig's party. That's so common in various adaptations, that I would understand if anyone thought that was straight from the book.
Other changes in the past are that Fezziwig owns a bank rather than being a merchant and Jacob Marley also works there, rather than Dick Wilkins.
Scrooge and Marley wind up opening their own bank and Fezziwig gets turned down for a loan!
We see Emily break up with Scrooge, but we don't see her happily married to someone else.
One last scene shows Scrooge and Marley working in their office when Marley says he's not feeling well, then keels over!
These bits of business in the past with a living Jacob Marley put me in mind of 1951's "Scrooge," but they're not exactly the same.
Before we leave the past, I need to mention one more time that I get a really creepy vibe from Jane Krakowski's Ghost of Christmas Past!
Scrooge next deals with the Ghost of Christmas Present, as embodied by a non-creepy Jesse L. Martin, who had been seen selling tickets to a holiday show.
What's odd is that the spirit puts on a show, headlining a big song-and-dance number. There's an audience, which includes Grace, and they seem to see Scrooge and the ghost interacting. So, this wouldn't exactly be happening in the present, but in some netherworld. So, is that really Grace or a representation of her for Scrooge's benefit?
The musical number includes a bevy of chorus girls dressed as toy soldiers, which seems a bit saucy for the audience of mostly children!
Once the number is over, the spirit shows Scrooge some other celebrations, including those at Bob Cratchit's and Fred's houses.
Interestingly, Fred and his wife (given the name Sally) have a good-sized son, whom we see, but nobody really acknowledges. Scrooge never says anything about having a grandnephew or anything. Usually Fred and his wife are portrayed as newlyweds, which is implied in the book.
The cast listing his Fred's last name as Anderson, but I didn't catch anyone actually saying it.
Also curious is that Tiny Tim does not say "God bless us, everyone" at this point, although we've heard that phrase sung many times, including by Grace. Tiny Tim does eventually say it at the very end, though.
We get a lot of interaction between Bob and Tim in this show and a nice bond is established.
Ignorance and Want make their appearance and the Christmas Present sequence ends.
Rather than the Ghost of Christmas Future appearing to Scrooge at this point, Scrooge goes back to his house, where he encounters the blind beggar he had earlier dismissed. In a change from how the other spirits were revealed, she morphs into the Ghost of Christmas Future, with her outfit changing from black to white. We continue to see her face, but in keeping with tradition, she does not speak.
The events of the future, including Scrooge's dead body lying about and his belongings being taken off of him(!), Tiny Tim's death and Scrooge seeing his own grave, are all acted out as part of a surreal sequence in a graveyard, as opposed to realistic sets. I like this, as it's different, taking advantage of the musical format.
A bunch of kids, including Grace, show up to sing for some reason.
A close-up of Scrooge's grave shows his birth date as February 23, 1795 (Cool, that's also my birthday, at least a couple of years later!) and his death year as 1850. It's unclear what year is the present here, but 1843 would not be out of line.
Scrooge is awakened on Christmas morning by a couple of the kids we had seen earlier, now attempting to sing a carol. Scrooge bring one of them inside.
This kid is definitely channeling the Artful Dodger, specifically Jack Wild in the movie version of "Oliver!" from 1968. As noted, he had given the contents of pockets he had picked to an older man in the opening scenes. That man is not made up to look like the traditional Fagin, but that's just as well.
Scrooge gives the kid money to buy the turkey in advance, which would not be a good plan when dealing with the Artful Dodger, but it being Christmas, the kid actually does return with the turkey!
Scrooge goes out and makes amends with everyone he had run into at the beginning, including forgiving Grace's father's debt and buying all the tickets for Jesse L. Martin's show.
He stops at the Cratchit house to raise Bob's salary, then grabs Tiny Tim to parade him around town. Tiny Tim finally says his line, and scene!
So, all in all, it's a pretty faithful adaptation, with a few changes here and there.
