A Christmas Carol
Abridged from Charles Dickens and directed by Richard Williams
Narrator: Alistair McGowan
Conductor/piano: Joanna MacGregor
Brighton Philharmonic Brass Quintet
St George’s Kemptown, Brighton
14 December 2024
Star rating: 4
This atmospheric take on Dickens’s timeless tale is an exquisite bijoux version, lasting less than an hour. Opening with Joanna MacGregor beating a drum to alert the audience and to give the BPO Brass Quintet a lead in, it combines fine story telling with carols and feels rather magical in the semi darkness of St George’s, Kemptown.
Alexander McGowan, dressed in Victorian wing collar with cravat, sits in a big chair with book across his knees and is warmly compelling. He is, of course, famed for vocal versatility, accents and mimicry and here he gets the various characters – Scrooge, Marley’s ghost, the three spirits, the boy in the street, Bob Cratchit and many more – with total conviction. It is a fine performance.
The brass quintet breaks up the narrative with some lovely playing. I particularly admired the arrangement by Roger Harvey of Es ist ein Ros entsprungen (a tune I know as the hymn “O Great and Mighty wonder”) in which all five instruments – two trumpets, horn, trombone and tuba – weave contrapuntally around each other. I’m, always pleased, moreover, to hear the tuba (John Elliott) being given its magnificent head. Eight carols and Christmas hymns joyfully punctuate the story.
There are sound effects too, to support the drama, sometimes from MacGregor on piano or percussion instruments and sometimes from the quintet players. And that works well too.
Once MacGowan has exited down the main aisle we get a Carol Fantasy arranged by John Iveson. It’s reasonable to listen to but hopeless, because of the tempi, to sing along to which is what we were invited to do. This adds nothing much and it would be better to end this show at MacGowan’s exit.
A Christmas Carol, which I have seen there once before (three years ago, I think) seems to have become a regular BPO Christmas event in Brighton, using different actors. It’s an attractive idea and clearly very popular: the early evening performance I attended was sold out. Booking for next year warmly recommended.
