SCR DIRECTOR SEES ‘CHRISTMAS CAROL’ AS GHOST STORY

To John-David Keller, the traditional holiday chestnut “A Christmas Carol” is, above all, “a terrific ghost story.”

It’s not that Keller dismisses the more heartwarming qualities of Dickens’ classic yarn about the redemption of the sour and sorrowful Ebenezer Scrooge. But Keller, in his seventh year as director of South Coast Repertory’s “A Christmas Carol,” feels Dickens intended it to be chillingly entertaining as well as morally instructive.

“I know there’s this real sense of rebirth in terms of spirit and all, (but) I also know this is one of the best ghost stories ever written,” said Keller, 48, a resident of Costa Mesa. “There’s a lot of eeriness in this production. . . . It’s fun and good theater. First and foremost, we want people to have a great time.”

The show, which runs through Dec. 24, is straightforward in telling the story of Scrooge, Bob Cratchit, Tiny Tim and all the other characters peopling “A Christmas Carol.” But Keller and the stage crew have also filled Scrooge’s ghost-guided journey with startling effects and jumpy surprises.

Spirits plunge into scenes like banshees; corpses peer out of caskets; music has the cadence of a racing heart, and Jacob Marley’s ghost is a ghastly specter.

“There are times when we actually do frighten children,” Keller said, then quickly added, “but this is not like a John Carpenter (horror) movie. We like to give them a start so they pay attention to what is really being said. This also makes it more interesting for their parents.”

The Gothic production has changed little since 1980, when it was first staged by SCR. There has been some tinkering over the years--the current show features a new bedroom for Scrooge--and some scenes and dialogue have been shuffled, but not much. The adult cast, which comes from SCR’s resident company, remains pretty much the same every year. Only the juvenile parts are filled each year by different Orange County children, Keller said.

Although conceding that the show has remained relatively static, Keller said he is far from bored with it.

“Well, it does seem like we’ve been putting it on as long as Marley’s been dead,” he said, laughing. “But really, this has always been great fun for me. I look forward to it, (and) although everything is pretty much in place, there are always directing challenges.”

Perhaps the biggest challenge is working with the 18 children who make up the two juvenile casts of “A Christmas Carol.” The youngsters are divided into two nine-part groups for alternating performances to ensure that they don’t get bored, tired or miss too much school.

While the adults are more than familiar with their roles and don’t need Keller’s constant help, the children require much more attention. Keller shows them “by rote” how to react in any given scene and tries to “create a sense of responsibility.” Any lapse in concentration can result in flubbed lines or missed cues, he said.

Seemingly simple maneuvers such as costume changes between scenes can be a headache. Keller worries about the scramble backstage and someone’s appearing in Tiny Tim’s shirt and Bob Cratchit’s hat.

“We drill them on that, but they are pretty good at it by the first show,” he said. “Once they know what they’re doing, they are so busy changing that they don’t have a lot of time to goof off.”

SCR’s sophisticated “A Christmas Carol” is family entertainment with a leaning toward the adult audience. But Keller has another annual holiday project that’s reserved almost exclusively for children, the younger the better.

For the last four years, he has helped create the elaborate Christmas village in the South Coast Plaza Mall in Costa Mesa. Called “Santasfaction” this year, it provides youngsters with a stroll through the magical workshop of Santa’s elves, ending with the traditional moments on Santa’s lap.

Keller said mall owner C.J. Segerstrom & Sons hired SCR in 1983 to make the village more theatrical. Keller, a 14-year-member of SCR’s resident acting company, was put in charge.

“If you look around, you can see we’ve taken an eclectic approach to it all,” Keller said. “We wanted it to have the usual storybook flavor but also be a little different. We’ve put some people in some pretty unusual costumes, including a walking Christmas tree and a walking gift-wrapped box.

“They scare the kids some at first. But once we nudge them over, they seem to like them,” Keller said.