'A Christmas Carol' rings in the holidays

I generally don't like sappy. I don't go for symbolically wilting roses, emotional talks in the rain, dramatic zoom-outs at the ends of movies or the "Friends" season finale. James Cameron and Meg Ryan movies make me sick.

But somehow, the holiday season can get away with a level of sappiness that the rest of the year doesn't dare touch. I mean, you can't get much worse than light snowfall, evergreen trees, candlelight and songs about "cheer."

There's just something about the Christmas season (along with Disney, Family Circus and Shel Silverstein) that gives us warm hearts instead of upset stomachs. Fake snow falling on a lonely tree at Christmas time has worked for everything from "Miracle on 34th Street" to "A Charlie Brown Christmas" — and it continues to inspire at McCarter's annual "A Christmas Carol."

My girlfriend's dad said, "You only need to see one 'Christmas Carol' every 10 years." But even if it's been only eight years since your junior high production, I'd suggest McCarter's be the one for your next decade.

And even if your junior high was star-studded with up-and-coming actors, the big budget of our Tony-award-winning neighbor on University Place makes this "Christmas Carol" the best version you'll see for a while. The sets are numerous and enormous. The special effects are clever and costly. And the cast totals almost 40.

Everyone knows Charles Dickens' tale of old Uncle Scrooge, mired in contempt of the Christmas season's gooey sweetness, who is slowly turned toward the ways of right by the likes of Jiminy Cricket — in the Disney version — and his comrades. Denouncing charities, poring over statistical books, realizing his wealth and, of course, growling "Bah, humbug," Ebenezer Scrooge is the guy you don't want to give your passes to — though he might just remind you of some members of your club.

On Christmas Eve, poor Scrooge is hounded by the ghost of Jacob Marley (Ziggy's great-great-grandfather) who sends a variety of spirits to change Scrooge's ways before he, as Marley was, is condemned to eternal damnation for his McKinsey life. By the end, of course, Scrooge is just as sappified as the rest of them, and when he hugs Tiny Tim, you just have to applaud.

McCarter's production begins with, ahem, a lone tree under falling snow. Soon, the stage is filled by Victorian-costumed street vendors, families, bell-ringing choirs and a director's nightmare of 12 young children. Jubilant underscoring and general raucousness make Dickens' storybook London come to life.

Suddenly, however, we are transported inside Mr. Scrooge's place of business — an intricately drab, two-story set that is sharply raked toward stage left. That the actors manage to navigate stairs at such an angle is an acrobatic feat. John Christopher Jones (returning to McCarter after last year's "The Three Sisters") plays Scrooge, hobbling roughly and shouting gruffly at poor Bob Cratchitt — a simultaneously proud and timid Simon Brooking.

During the show, I was lucky to have a running commentary from a seven-year-old boy at my side who would tell me when the scary parts were coming. At first, I chuckled at his advice, thinking of the likelihood of horror in a Christmas story. But as Scrooge's brass door-knocker magically stretched into the shape of a human face, I appreciated my new friend's warning.

Indeed, McCarter's special effects are cinematic in their precision, with magic show-esque theatrical devices — though I'm sure there is less sleight-of-hand and more expensive equipment than in your usual card trick. Scrooge's room is turned into a mess as an invisible Marley magically tosses items of clothing around. Actors exit and immediately reappear at different places onstage.

And for a post-intermission spectacle, Scrooge himself comes flying in like Mary Martin, under the spell of the Ghost of Christmas Present.

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In fact, it is the three ghosts who are really the weaknesses of the production — surprising, given that they could potentially be the grandest opportunities with which to show off one's special effects. Christmas Past is represented by three squealing girls dressed in chartreuse dresses, who are ever-so-cheerful while showing Scrooge all of the awful things he has done in his life.

The aforementioned Christmas Present, with her inane glitter-spraying wand, would do better to give up her attempt at a British accent and let her New York tones shine through — especially as her sequined diva gown already renders her conspicuously out-of-place.

Finally, Christmas Future is a gargantuan, dimly lit puppet with big hands such as one sees at parades. I just expected more.

Every year, McCarter puts on "A Christmas Carol." Every year, it sells out. The kid sitting next to me was obviously back for a repeat viewing. The whole audience chuckled in recognition at every "Bah, humbug!"

And we all, myself included, cried together at the end. There's just something in the air at Christmas time, I guess.

For show times and reservations, call McCarter Theatre at (609) 258-ARTS.