There’s a lot melancholia inside the soul of sleuth extraordinaire Sherlock Holmes. In spite of everything, when your arch-nemesis Professor Moriarty is not any extra, what’s the purpose of dwelling? I imply, certain, Holmes in all probability helped trigger the demise after a scuffle, however can we cease splitting hairs about it? There’s a real sufferer right here, and that’s Holmes, who has one much less enemy to spar with on the fringe of a cliff.
With Sherlock getting all bah-humbuggy on everybody round him because the festivities of Christmas kick off in London, there’s one other demise that wants his consideration, and quick. That might be the passing of the unique miser, Ebenezer Scrooge. Ahh sure, function and motion await; Sherlock is again, child!
San Jose Stage’s manufacturing of Mark Shanahan’s mashup delight “A Sherlock Carol” is a pointy entry into the Bay Space’s Christmas canon, pulled along with a surefire solid executing a dexterous, bodily staging. The mashup of each Charles Dickens and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s most recognizable literary creation is joyful in Shanahan’s adaptation, regardless of having greater than its share of bouts with loquacity.
The sultan of unhappy sackery that’s Sherlock (L. Peter Callender) mopes round incessantly. Even some encouragement from the loyal Dr. Watson (Mike Storm) isn’t sufficient to coax the greatness out of Holmes. However the investigative powers required of a gumshoe the extent that Holmes provides is simply too tempting to show down.
After a primary act wherein there are just a few too many lulls, the second act tightens up mightily, when many of the payoffs are teed up and delivered.
The present doesn’t all the time execute large laughs, however there’s loads of humor extracted from the veteran solid of six, a lot of whom are taking part in a number of characters to nice impact. Director Kenneth Kelleher is terrific at staging a traditional, and the 2 particular tales to meld right here play to his tableau-ish, minimalist strengths. The largely naked stage opens up the chance to fill the clean canvas, which Kelleher leans into successfully.
Common San Jose Stage patrons will immediately acknowledge many within the solid, but a relative newcomer is effusive in polish and allure. Anjoli Aguilar’s flip because the Countess and others swims in stage generalship, eliciting loads of giggles and guffaws. Veterans embrace Julian López-Morillas as each the curmudgeon and cackling variations of Scrooge, immediately recognizable to anybody who has made “A Christmas Carol” a part of their very own private vacation custom.
Li-Leng Au’s personal work not solely contains terrific character portrayals, but in addition the informing of some sapid consideration to dialect particulars because the lead coach. Storm additionally takes nice care of his characters, transferring the story ahead with nice commitments to his portrayals styled with fact. Keith Pinto makes a standard observe of providing a wide-range of characterizations, as aware of each nook and cranny of the San Jose Stage’s dimensions as anybody who performs there.
Callender’s taut strategy has the benefit of sustaining a hearth–respiratory depth for unbelievable lengths of time. Not often does he depart the stage, locking down contained in the story with the duty of constructing two iconic characters inside his Holmes. After spending time with Callender’s portrayal, there’s a robust feeling that the virtues of each sources are constructed properly inside one bodily and emotional physique of labor.
The aesthetics of a interval piece have to be crafted with a selected sort of precision. Whether or not it’s Jonathan Williams’ scenic and manufacturing design, Lauren Suiter’s pithy and posh costumes exuding the darkish world of foggy ol’ London, and even Maurice Vercoutere’s smoky lighting plot, a vibe of each magic vacation and anti-Christmas inside a traditional works delightfully.
Traditions this time of 12 months are such a joyous piece of the season, with traditional literature possessing a job inside a reader’s coronary heart. Whereas Scrooge and Sherlock reside inside their very own traditional Rushmore, it’s additionally enjoyable to consider of us like Tim Cratchit who’s not so tiny anymore.
Appears that he turned out simply fantastic because of Scrooge’s generosity. You see, kindness remains to be alive and effectively inside these traditional tales.
Nicely, aside from what Holmes may need carried out to the poor professor on that cliff. That’s fairly unhealthy.
David John Chávez is chair of the American Theatre Critics/Journalists Affiliation and a two-time juror for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama (2022-23). @davidjchavez
‘A SHERLOCK CAROL’
By Mark Shanahan, offered by San Jose Stage Firm
By: Dec. 15
The place: San Jose Stage, 490 S.1st St., San Jose
Working time: 2 hours, 10 minutes, with an intermission
Tickets: $17-$74; www.thestage.org
