REVIEW: For purists, there’s no beating ‘Christmas Carol’ at Merchant’s House
Photo: A Christmas Carol at the Merchant’s House stars John Kevin Jones, who originated the role. Photo courtesy of Merchant’s House / Provided by BBB with permission.
NEW YORK — The Merchant’s House Museum on the Lower East Side of Manhattan allows visitors to step back in time and appreciate what life might have been like more than 190 years ago. The building is a rarity in the Big Apple, dating back to 1832, a time when New York was bustling but still burgeoning, when the southern tip of the island was the denizen of merchants and mariners.
Visiting the museum on a typical day is always a joy, but visiting during Christmastime for its annual presentation of A Christmas Carol is a marvel. The production, which has been going strong for 13 years, reimagines an evening where Charles Dickens himself has pulled up a chair in a stately parlor and decided to open his famous book to offer a dramatic retelling of the famous tale. The year is 1867, and thanks to the historic features of the Merchant’s House, believing that timeline is not difficult at all.
This year’s monologue is performed by John Kevin Jones, who originated the role of Dickens, and Vince Gatton, who has more recently joined the production. Audience members should check performance details to see which actor is scheduled.
At a recent performance, Jones held the sold-out crowd in the palm of his hands, offering a commanding performance that was equal parts powerful and poetic. He knows how to recite these well-known lines with such energy and authority, allowing the somber moments to linger in the air and grabbing hold of the audience’s attention with other, more forceful parts of the narrative. He finds the humor and the horror in the text.
This Dickens character performs with a Christmas tree in the background, a cup of tea at the ready and wonderfully draped curtains blocking out the 2025 world outside — all while the theatergoers pull up chairs in the intimate surroundings of the Merchant’s House Museum. The only item missing is chestnuts roasting on the open fire.
What Jones does with the story is similar to what classically trained actors accomplish with the words of William Shakespeare. He fully embodies the many roles in the narrative, everyone from Ebenezer Scrooge to Bob Cratchit to the ghosts who visit on Christmas Eve. He can be haunting one second, and then with a different inflection of his voice, be childlike the next. He uses his arms and hands to emote the characters’ various feelings, and he somehow travels miles, even though he hardly leaves his centering spot by the tree, by the cup of tea, by the draped windows.
For purists, who are perhaps a little tired of the commercialization of Christmas and the naughtiness of BOGO offers on Amazon, this production of A Christmas Carol feels like a time-transporting journey back to what the holiday is supposed to be all about. Using Dickens’ words as a roadmap, Jones, and no doubt Gatton as well, effectively and resonantly offer a haunting tale of how one curmudgeon finds redemption before it’s too late.
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
A Christmas Carol at the Merchant’s House continues through Dec. 27 at the Merchant’s House Museum on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. John Kevin Jones and Vince Gatton alternate in the role of Dickens. Running time: 75 minutes with no intermission. Virtual options are also available. Click here for more information and tickets.
