Walking into the Carlyle Memorial Hall theatre for Dickens Festival the audience excited to see "Christmas at the Bar Humbug Ranch" was transported back to the Wild West, where this year's spin on Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" took place.
Each year Cornerstone Theatre holds a version of the classic tale, which they develop and write together. Though scripted by Doug Waldner, he explains the talent of the local thespians is what truly develops the characters.
"About 75 percent of the lines were mine," Waldner guesses. "The actors create the character... once they have the character it becomes who they are."
Thus, as each actor develops their character the speech becomes improvised in order to accommodate their character's persona.
The idea to create a country version of the classic had been on Cornerstone Theatre's minds for awhile, but it wasn't until last year that it was really fleshed out by the group.
"The week after Dickens we actually meet at the Mother Theresa Centre and discuss next year at that retreat," Waldner explained.
Included in these ideas presented last year was the usage of the song "Santa got lost in Texas," which has been on Waldner's list of songs to use if the opportunity ever presented itself. With the group deciding on the western theme songs began to be chosen and the likely unheard before Christmas carol was included.
Overall the play follows the plot of "A Christmas Carol," plucking Eb Scrooge (Jesse Twietmeyer) out of 19th Century England and plopping him directly into the Wild West.
Still greedy and selfish Scrooge alienates himself from the rest of the town folk and his family. Deciding to check cattle on Christmas Eve as opposed to spending it at the hoedown with everyone, Scrooge is visited by the ghost of his former partner Johnny Marley (Paul Twietmeyer) and told three ghosts will visit him that night.
As the Ghosts of Christmas Past (Craig Savill), Present (Bertha Isleifson), and Future (Dianne Twietmeyer) transport Scrooge through time, with the help of the Tumbling Tumbleweeds, spirits trapped in purgatory who help to show people the err of their ways.
"The tumbleweeds are an important part of the show," Waldner stated. "They take Scrooge through his journey."
This proves when it comes to theatre there are no small parts as the tumbleweeds are integral to the development of the storyline.
Following Scrooge's journey he has a revelation and when he awakes out in the country alone rushes back to town to take part in the hoedown. He apologizes for his actions and offers to buy Little Jo (Sydney Flynn), the Tiny Tim character, a horse so she will not be involved in another stampede as Scrooge learnt from the Ghost of Christmas Future that this is how she would be killed since she was hobbled from a prior incident.
As a musical Cornerstone successfully melded theatre and music to produce a cohesive production made better through song selections introduced. Both advancing the storyline and allowing the characters to further express their feelings onstage.
The extremely talented cast performed wonderfully with many singing sensations this year including David Slykhuis who played Ben Cratchit, Naomi Twietmeyer as Mature Miss Kitty, Jesse Twietmeyer, Paul Twietmeyer, James Herman as Young Eb Scrooge, Megan McAuley as Young Miss Kitty, Ashton Lisitza as Wyatt, Bryanne Forcier as Big Jo Cratchit, Dianne Twietmeyer, and Leola Hirtle as a town person to name a few.
Another pleasant addition to the production was the utilization of Emily Klatt's talents who took to the fiddle for a few songs and briefly tap danced during the hoedown.
Rounding out the cast was Leslie King as Wynonna, Scrooge's niece who vowed to continue reaching out to her uncle until he came around. Also adding to the production were Linda Coffey as Mother Maybelle Cratchit, Brayden Hill as Adam Cratchit, Kyle Bye as Hoss Cratchit, Fred Perry as Harold Q Sing, Harvey Rounce as Hurry up Jose, and Marion Biram as a townsperson. While Don Carter played the town drunk Delbert, who just so happened to be the town's doctor as well bringing laughter to the crowd at the realization.
The set, which was literally like a picture pasted to the wall, was painted by the extremely talented Paul Twietmeyer and Marion Biram with help from David Slykhuis.
Directed by Lane Easton and Waldner, with musical direction by Dianne Twietmeyer the performance was a fun spin on the classic tale, which those at Cornerstone Theatre know by heart.
Musicians helping throughout the production include Wendy Rounce (piano), Harvey Rounce (guitar), Ben Dubois (guitar), Naomi Twietmeyer (piano), Claude Poirier (drums), Paul Twietmeyer (harmonica), and Emily Klatt (fiddle).
This year Cornerstone Theatre welcomed new members including Leola Hirtle on stage as well as Bryanne Forcier (Big Jo Cratchit), but her father, Jack Forcier, and brother, Matthew Forcier assisted with the tech crew.
Overall the Cornerstone Theatre was able to bring laughter and fun to the crowd making it another successful Dickens play, which was actually sold out for all three performances over the weekend.
"It's been fun to do," Waldner stated. "If the cast has fun then the audience has fun."
