Stage: Heady Seasonal Spirits

Map It:  Waterfront 

THOSE WITH POLITICALLY DIVIDED guests this holiday season may find solace in Arena Stage's "Christmas Carol 1941." Conservatives will enjoy the chest-pounding, pro-war sentiments, while liberals will love all the talk of charity and government regulation of business.

The last production at Arena Stage's Fichandler Arena for the next 29 months, James Magruder's commissioned take on the Dickens classic takes place in D.C. just after Pearl Harbor. Our grinchy central figure is one Elijah Strube (James Gale), a war profiteer who reflexively barks "Bullcrap!" at the mere mention of Christmas. His trade of choice: the scaly underbelly of the pineapple industry.

Strube out-Scrooges Scrooge by not just haranguing his loyal employee, Henry Schroen (Lawrence Redmond), but by firing him outright on Christmas Eve. Adding to the troubles of Henry and his wife, Margarette (Nancy Robinette), is their 17-year-old son, Butch, who vows to enlist on his next birthday. Between Butch and the precociously saccharine moppet Carolyn (Mollie Clement), the play cobbles together a Tiny Tim hybrid.

Of course, salvation arrives for the Schroens when the great beyond scares Strube straight.

Particularly striking is the ghost of Marley (Hugh Nees). The remaining spirits are represented as statues — the gilded Winged Victory, Freedom and Grief. Director Molly Smith compensates for the story's familiarity with clever effects and a local flavoring.

» Arena Stage, 1101 6th St. SW; through Dec. 30, $52-$66; 202-488-3300. (Waterfront-SEU)

Written by Express contributor Erin Trompeter
Photo by Scott Suchman