THEATER REVIEW:Dickens classic 'Christmas Carol' returns

The holiday season is upon us, which at South Coast Repertory means that it's time once again to thrust the spotlight on a crusty old miser who's having a Dickens of a time getting a good night's sleep.

Yes, "A Christmas Carol" is back, Jerry Patch's stage adaptation of the classic Charles Dickens story with the usual complement of familiar faces. This rendition — the 27th annual — offers the same Scrooge, the same director and several of the same actors who have traversed the stage in this holiday treat since the early 1980s.

Tradition may be the core value of the musical "Fiddler on the Roof," but nowhere is theatrical tradition more evident than at South Coast Repertory in December. Director John-David Keller, who also takes a pair of major supporting roles, has been tinkering ever so slightly with this project each time out, but one huge constant remains — the tremendous performance of Hal Landon Jr., who's finally aging his way into the role of Ebenezer Scrooge.

Without Landon, we'd have to cancel Christmas. His rail-thin, robustly "humbuggy" Scrooge is as much a part of the local yuletide season as Santa Claus. Once again, the veteran actor offers an early-play skinflint whose attitude makes the windows rattle and a reformed benefactor who's everybody's favorite uncle.

Little changes from year to year, but Don Took's ghost of Jacob Marley seems a little more hyperactive than in past seasons. Timothy Landfield has a right jolly time as the spirit of Christmas present, while Richard Doyle deftly guides Scrooge through his difficult childhood as the ghost of Christmas past.

Keller positively radiates the holiday spirit in the "past" segment as Fezziwig, Scrooge's first employer, who enjoys throwing lavish Christmas parties, while Martha McFarland is splendid in a trio of assignments — as an ebullient Mrs. Fezziwig, a giddy solicitor and a streetwise scavenger. And Art Koustik is properly gruff as her "fence," Joe, in the latter guise.

Daniel Blinkoff has made the role of Bob Cratchit, Scrooge's clerk, his own over the past few holidays, and is heartwarmingly convincing. Jennifer Parsons is a feisty Mrs. Cratchit, while Howard Shangraw excels in his long-running assignment as Scrooge's merry nephew, Fred.