LOCAL Monday, December 12, 2011 Page 5The Chronicle-News Trinidad, Colorado

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By Tim KellerSpecial to The Chronicle-News

RATON — Director GailDixon-Willden obviouslycoached her actors to stokethe merriment in thisyear’s 10th annual ShulerTheater production ofCharles Dickens’s classic “AChristmas Carol.” The pro-duction evolves each year;last weekend’s three showshad been tweaked to pro-vide the audience morelaughs than ever.

Willden provided manyof her actors, in both majorand minor roles, with theirown scenes, and more oftenthan not she found ways forthem to bring generouslaughter to the appreciativeholiday audience.Sometimes it was a cleversight gag, other times afunny bit of dialog. Theresult was closer to a come-dy than the iconic tale ofredemption has beenbefore, and all the better forit.

Joe Zink returned for hisfifth season as the cold-hearted miser EbenezerScrooge, easily earning histop billing. Zink gets betterin this role every year; it’snow hard to imagine a bet-ter Scrooge.

The rest of the featuredroles were spread prettyevenly between a dozen orso other actors — this is anensemble community the-ater musical productionnow grown to more than 60actors on stage. MattFleming was a welcomeaddition to the local theaterscene, with his history ofacting that had ended 17years ago. He returned tothe stage as patriarch BobCratchit, perfectly cast withhis elastic face that shiftseasily from despair to ahuge warm grin.

Shuler regular MarkJansen continues to

improve through his manyroles; in this year’s “AChristmas Carol” he hadnot one but two featuredroles, as Fred and asMarley’s Ghost.

Carol Crary returned asa gentler Ghost ofChristmas Past, bringingwith her a pair of SnowSprites played by youngAsia Gentry and AutumnArchuleta, who were adelightful addition to theplay.

If there’s a role askingfor an actor to go over thetop, “chewing the scenery,”then Michael Porter is the

man for the job. Here hereturned as the Ghost ofChristmas Present with aperformance that was aChristmas present for theaudience.

Chicky Lee Gomezplayed both young Scroogeand the masked Ghost ofChristmas Future, shakingup the elderly Scrooge inboth cases. It was good tohave John and Sue Martinback as Mr. and Mrs.Fezziwig: they bring infec-tious zest to their roles andadd their rich voices to thesong-filled musical.

The Cratchit family was

more endearing than usual,close-knit and lovely, withmatriarch DesireeMartinez and kids playedby Marisa McCarty, ClairWillden, Nathaly Torres,Lijah Medina, and a fineTiny Tim Cratchit playedby Zebediah Medina. Themuted brown colors at thefamily’s Christmas dinnerwere an effective part of acharming set design.

Young Jeff Redlick andKristina Jansen, bothShuler veterans, enjoyedtheir playful dance romp.Newcomer Kelly Jones wasgood as Millie, especially

when her wonderfulsinging voice emerged inthe layered harmonies.

Elizabeth and SarahRecord came close to steal-ing the show in their turnas charwomen come to stealaway Scrooge’s things afterhis death — witnessed bythe living Scrooge thanks tothe magic of the Ghost ofChristmas Future. As thetwo women stripped awaythe sheet from underScrooge’s dead body, thenthe red woolen socks fromhis cold feet, the audiencerepeatedly erupted inlaughter in a scene that per-

fectly illustrated directorWillden’s amping up of thecomedy this year.

As the production hasgrown, the number of cos-tumes has had to grow, too.Costumers Misty Gomezand Ursula Garcia, assistedby Janese Little and AshleyAtwater, really upped theirgame this year: the cos-tumes looked splendid, andmarkedly improved fromthe past. Attention to detailpaid off with all of theplay’s women wearingwarm scarves against thewinter cold — this isLondon in December 1884— and much of thefootwear fit the setting aswell, so that Scrooge’sridiculous bedroom slip-pers of rubber-soled moc-casins were the exceptionrather than the rule.

The production featured18 carols and songs con-ducted by music directorMichael D. Higgins, whojoined in one musical high-light when he turned to addhis own deep resonantvoice to a mix of male har-monies. The “Box Carolers”in the balcony sang a tran-scendent featured carolalong with many harmonyaccompaniments.

This year’s smooth scenechanges reminded that it’sbest for a stage manager’swork to be unnoticed: thatmeans everything is goingwell. Mariah Fleming invis-ibly directed seven assis-tants and crew chiefs asthey all kept more than 60cast members exactlywhere — and when — theywere supposed to be.

The Santa Fe TrailSchool for the PerformingArts produces most ofRaton’s local theater. Theirannual “A Christmas Carol”is always eagerly anticipat-ed; this year’s productionstands out as perhaps thebest yet.

By Tim KellerSpecial to The Chronicle-News

RATON —Less thantwo years after its tri-umphant first show at theShuler Theater, the world-touring Minnesota a cap-pella band Home Freereturned to a packedhouse for a concert devot-ed entirely to Christmassongs, all produced withno instruments beyondfive remarkable humanvoices.

Once again the firstimpression was that theymust be cheating. Theiropening song was so big,bolstered by loud throbbingelectric bass and a drum kitcomplete with cymbalcrashes, that you just knewthey had to be cheating.And you were right, butonly partially.

Later in the show theyrevealed an electronic loop-ing device that allowedthem to sing a rhythmic

pattern and then have itkeep repeating while theyadded layers over it. It wasright there in front of theaudience the whole time,but used for only two orthree songs.

All eyes were on vocalpercussionist Adam Rupp,beat-boxer extraordinaire,because it was so hard tobelieve that he could pro-duce such room-fillingdrums, cymbals, percus-sion, and more with onlyhis mouth. He did.

Bass singer MatthewTuey filled out the rhythmsection emulating both elec-tric and upright basseswhen he wasn’t singing thefeatured lead vocal.

That left Matt Atwood,Adam Rupp, and RobLundquist to layer vocalharmonies around the well-known Christmas melodiesthe band brought on its6500-mile, second annualChristmas concert tour.

When they’re not booked

to provide entertainmenton luxury cruise shipsaround the world, thesingers tour the Midwestwith a highly-polished pro-fessional show thatincludes a truck with twotechnicians which arriveson site several hours aheadof the singers to set upsophisticated sound andlighting equipment.

Musically, the songs areseldom straightforward;instead, the musicians haverearranged them to showoff their vocal talents andincrease the entertainmentvalue. They sometimesswitch time signatures inthe midst of a song, or com-bine two songs.

They changed “It CameUpon a Midnight Clear”from its standard 4/4 timeto 5/4 time, giving it a newfeel, and then they inserteda section of Dave Brubeck’sjazz instrumental “TakeFive” into the middle of thecarol. Citing their love of

the TV show “Glee,” theydid a mash-up of “Let ItSnow” and “WinterWonderland.”

It was a short show —two 40-minute sets — thefive singers had so muchinfectious fun that the audi-ence was unlikely to feelshortchanged. The onstagefun was so convincing that

it seemed likely that theseguys actually laugh a lot ontheir 300-mile jaunts acrossthe plains to reach the nextshow. They were great atbringing the audience intotheir circle, with lots ofplayful banter back andforth, while their vocalaccomplishments wereoften simply astonishing.

It was no wonder, then,that long lines formed inthe lobby after the show tobuy the band’s CDs andhave them autographed.The singers seemed to likethe Shuler Theater as muchas its audience liked them,so it’s a good bet that they’llall meet again in a year ortwo.

Tim Keller/Special to The Chronicle-News

Veteran actor Joe Zink plays Ebenezer Scrooge as a miser never content with his money in Charles Dickens’s “A Christmas Carol” atRaton’s Shuler Theater.

‘Christmas Carol’ merrier than ever this year

Tim Keller/Special to The Chronicle-News

Home Free brought its highly professional show to the Shuler Theater Saturday for a night of acappella Christmas music.

Home Free jingles bellswith a cappella concert

DEAR ABBY: I am a gaywoman. My partner,"Jenny," and I have beenfriends with another couple

for 15y e a r s .Over thelast year Ihave cometo realizethat I nol o n g e rwant to bef r i e n d sw i t hthem. Oneof themhas beenp a r t i c u -l a r l yunkind to

me, and frankly, we don'thave a lot in common.

Jenny is uncomfortablewith my decision and wantsme to talk to them to dis-cuss my feelings. They havealready asked her if there'sa problem. If I talk to them,I'm sure they will be offend-ed by what I have to saybecause I didn't say any-thing when the issues firstarose. I'm not good at con-

frontation, and it's hard forme to tell someone my feel-ings are hurt.

The bottom line is, Iwant out of this couple'sfriendship. But I need to doit in a way that's OK withJen. I met the couplethrough her, and she wantsto continue her friendshipwith them. Please help. --MOVING ON IN GEORGIA

DEAR MOVING ON: Itwould not be confrontation-al to tell them that whileyou have known each otherfor a long time, you feel youhave grown apart. Youshould also mention thatyour feelings were hurtwhen one of them said "()." At least that way theywill understand why youhave disappeared, andJenny won't be left with theresponsibility of explainingit to them.

DEAR ABBY: I love theholiday season, but I oftenfeel the blues and get a littledepressed. I lost my fatheron Christmas Day severalyears ago and have sincelost a brother to cancer. I'm

tired of feeling this waywhen this is the season tobe merry. What can I do? --ANOTHER BLUE CHRIST-MAS IN SOUTH CAROLI-NA

DEAR BLUE: I am sorryfor your losses. Because ofyour father's death onChristmas Day, it mayalways bring some sense ofloss. However, an effectiveway to distract yourselfwould be to spend time inthe company of friends whounderstand your feelings.Another would be to volun-teer at a senior center, shel-ter or food distribution pro-gram. Helping someone elsethrough a difficult time isthe surest cure for theblues. Please give it a try.

Dear Abby is written byAbigail Van Buren, alsoknown as Jeanne Phillips,and was founded by hermother, Pauline Phillips.Write Dear Abby atwww.DearAbby.com or P.O.Box 69440, Los Angeles, CA90069.

DDeeaarr AAbbbbyyJeannePhillips

Woman ready to end friendship