BWW Reviews: Chaffin's Barn's A CHRISTMAS CAROL Rings in the Holiday Season

Funny and irreverent, Chaffin's Barn's A Christmas Carol-featuring a witty new adaptation by Lydia Bushfield-gives audiences the perfect entrée into the whole crazy-wonderful holiday season, replete with sentimental carols, fruitcake jokes, horrid Christmas sweaters and Warren Gore on his knees. Who, pray tell, could possibly ask for more?

Although opening night had its challenges (more for the audience instead of the seasoned cast of actors onstage, what with a couple of extended intermissions that seemed interminable), director Kim Nygren and her six-member company delivered the goods with style, sass and even a little substance.

With so many Christmas Carols dotting the theatrical landscape at this time of year, it's a real challenge for companies to come up with a fresh take on Charles Dickens' time-honored classic, but thankfully Bushfield has come up with a plot that sets her script and characters smack dab in the middle of a down-home community center where the annual Christmas Eve spectacular has been performed while a snowstorm swirls outside. With the audience therefore trapped-not really, but you know what I mean...although I am uncertain all the patrons on opening night were in on that particular joke (one couple seemed about to leave, in fact, before finally settling in for a long winter's nap and/or show, depending on your perspective)-and the merry revelers finding themselves with a captive audience, the decision is made that the show must indeed go on. The result? A staged performance of an improvised (wink-wink) version of A Christmas Carol.

Somehow Bushfield (playing the doyenne of this particular small-town theater company) and her five co-stars manage to skirt the line between respect and parody with an adaptation of Dickens that is laugh-out-loud funny and fuzzily heartwarming at the very same time. Credit goes to Nygren for keeping her actors on-target and focused so that they deliver such a holiday confection to Chaffin's Barn's loyal audiences.

The aforementioned Gore walks away with the most laughs by evening's end, showing off his comedic chops to perfection in every one of his many characters, particularly as Tiny Tim (that's why he's on his knees)...it's nothing short of hilarious. He is given able support by the charming Devon Buchanan, whose Rastafarian-tinged Jacob Marley has the audiences roaring with laughter in the show's early going; Andy Riggs is a very credible Bob Cratchit and nephew Fred, and he scores comic hits of his own with his multi-layered performance. Mallory Mundy is quite funny as Ebenezer's favorite sister Fan, Ginger Cratchit, nephew Fred's wife Amber (those aren't their real names-except for Fan-but that's what I like to call the Real Housewives of Victorian London) and her character's trash-talking, finger-snapping self.

Charlie Winton somehow manages to both overact and underplay his Ebenezer Scrooge in the time-honored manner of a confident and controlled actor playing wonky onstage in order to sell the script.

As the theatrical doyenne, playwright, director and impresario, Bushfield is delightfully engaging, eye-poppingly costumed in Christmastime garb that is as gaudy and garish as you could hope to see. Kudos to Bushfield for working triple-time to write, star and design costumes (assisted in the latter by Kevin Thornton, which may explain her Ghost of Christmas Present get-up, which is especially noteworthy for Jamie Scott's lovely wig) for the show. She is successful on all levels.

Debbie Kraski's set painting and props are terrific (especially the Cratchitts' teeny-tiny Christmas goose) and Nygren and Katie Gant's lighting design does the ideal job in setting the show's sometimes wacky, sometimes serious tone.

The holidays are a very busy time at Chaffin's Barn Dinner Theatre and tickets are probably already at a premium (if, in fact, they are at all available for the remainder of the run), but it's definitely worth the effort to get yourself a ticket for some healthy, hearty holiday laughs.

• Charles Dicken's A Christmas Carol. Adapted by Lydia Bushfield. Directed by Kim Nygren. Produced by Janie and John Chaffin. Presented at Chaffin's Barn Dinner Theatre, 8204 Highway 100, Nashville. Through December 31. For tickets, call (615) 646-9977.

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