Chicago Tribune
- Recommended
"...This isn't quite the haunting experience of years past, but the potency is impossible to miss. A death (Marley's) reawakens a life (Scrooge's)—a cold reality that sets the story in motion. If you've long ago dismissed this show as treacle and do-goody earnestness, I suggest a trip to the Goodman for a reminder of just how much depth and complexity the story actually has."
Chicago Sun Times
- Highly Recommended
"...Yando is the grand maestro here -- an actor who can turn the emotional tide from strident rage to sharp laughter in a second. But there is much more. Penelope Walker's regal, often chiding Ghost of Christmas Present is a most winning addition, with Steve Haggard's whimsical flights of fancy generating giggles as Christmas Past (and terror when he plays the Undertaker)."
Chicago Reader
- Highly Recommended
"...The first-rate scenic and sound designs intensify the tale's supernatural elements but never overwhelm its humanity, and an onstage instrumental quartet (fiddlers, accordion, and French horn) make merry music part of the action. Returning for his second year as the misanthropic moneylender Scrooge, Larry Yando heads a fine ensemble whose palpable delight in their duties keeps this holiday perennial fresh."
Examiner
- Highly Recommended
"...If doesn’t matter that you know how it ends. Brown’s direction and Yando’s extraordinary turn as Ebenezer virtually set the stage ablaze. Scrooge’s long night’s journey into Christmas day shines white hot, like a forest of Christmas trees decked out a million flickering candles. It’s enough to make you believe if not in Santa Claus, than in the joyous power of redemption."
EpochTimes
- Highly Recommended
"...Directed by William Brown, who himself has played Scrooge, this production is as smooth as silk. William J. Norris, it seems has been in this show since the very first production, and young Lucy Godinez has grown from Belinda Cratchit to older sister Martha. Ryan Cowhey returns as Tiny Tim as does Ron Rains as Bob Cratchit and Karen Woditsch as his wife. The ghosts have undergone some changes with Anish Jethmalani taking on the ghost of Jacob Marley and Penelope Walker sparkles as the Ghost of Christmas Present."
Copley News Service
- Highly Recommended
"...Credit the Goodman Theatre with never leaving well enough alone in its annual production of “A Christmas Carol.” Each year there is something different to enjoy, and sometimes to marvel at, some bright theatrical or dramatic touch to freshen up what is already a superior playgoing experience."
Time Out Chicago
- Highly Recommended
"...In its 31st year of presenting the classic Dickens holiday tale, the Goodman doesn’t disappoint. Even though the plot (Scrooge is a grumpy old man visited by three Christmas ghosts, yadda, yadda) is almost as engraved in our collective psyche as the story of Jesus’s birth, the elaborate sets (particularly Scrooge’s bedroom) and Yando’s crotchety-yet-whimsical portrayal of Ebenezer kept us engaged for the entire 90 minutes—and we weren’t the only ones."
ChicagoCritic
- Highly Recommended
"...The blend of quirky characters, ghosts and local Londoners gives the fable a humanity that rings true to the spirit of the Christmas season. We see the irascible Scrooge go from “Bah, Humbug” heartless holiday hater to reformed, generous humanitarian. He gives all of us hope as does the humble Cratchit family. This smart, scary and funny show is a heartwarming family fare that’ll drive the spirit of the holiday season to all who see it."
Chicago Stage and Screen
- Highly Recommended
"...A Christmas Carol is a treat and a joy anywhere it is performed, but especially so under the roof of a theatre with the capabilities of the Goodman. I'll bet there was not a dry eye in the house by the end. I know mine were not. I'll confess it actually inspired me to drop some change in the cup of a homeless man downtown the next day, the same person I usually hurry past without a second glance, as most of us do. Dickens wrote "A Christmas Carol" in 1843. The fact that 165 years later the story still feels fresh and inspirational, and is still being told, is wonderful. The Goodman can bring me this legend for as long as it likes."
