The official beginning of the end of Chris Kayser’s epic run as Ebenezer Scrooge in the Alliance Theatre’s “A Christmas Carol” comes Wednesday when the Charles Dickens’ holiday classic opens.
But Kayser wasn't sounding particularly sentimental about his role one cold pre-Thanksgiving morning as he pondered his 16th and final Alliance turn as Mr. Bah, Humbug. Sipping from a steaming cup under the covered entry to Dancing Goats Coffee Bar in downtown Decatur as London-like mist fell around him, the actor pointed out that previews were starting that night.
“So I’m not thinking about it being hard to let go,” said Kayser, 64. “I’m still doing it, I’m still in the middle of it.”
Given that the play was about to begin its marathon 40-performance run, it’s understandable that the athletic Kayser, who is onstage virtually every moment of the show, was thinking more about the starting line than about Life After Scrooge.
Respected as an actor’s actor, he exudes a deep commitment to his craft, having missed only two performances in a 35-year career (when his son Jacob, now 24, was born) that included seven earlier years of “Christmas Carol” run at the old Academy Theatre. That dedication extends to the best-known character of the dozens he has played, Scrooge, the notorious miser whose gradual redemption has helped raise the spirit in Atlanta’s holidays for more than a generation.
Kayser discussed his two decades in the Alliance’s “Carol” (including two years portraying Scrooge’s business partner Jacob Marley and two as the impoverished clerk Bob Cratchit) and the way Dickens’ fiction has intersected with his real life.
Explaining his surprise decision to retire from the role: "After last year's production, it was the first time I ever even posed the question to myself of how long could I keep doing this. Sort of immediately then, I thought — because the last two years had been so great, really firing on all cylinders — that it would be great to go out on my own terms and do it one more year. And going on with the baseball metaphor, to go out like Sandy Koufax."
Why he didn't pursue ways to extend his run, such as, say, having his understudy perform matinees: "The public is there to see the show that was advertised. And in 35 years, I've never missed a rehearsal, much less a show, and I don't plan on starting now."
"Carol" felt like a gift to him following the births of Jacob and daughter Noelle, now 22: "They were born two years apart, both on Dec. 23, two days before Christmas. It seemed miraculous and a blessing that I had this great job right when I needed it, so that's helped me to honor that job and to keep that job and do it as well as I could every year."
How he stays focused despite being onstage almost the entire play: "There's a particular problem with the role of Scrooge: In the middle half of the play, you're watching and listening (as a series of four ghosts force him to review his life). So the real challenge is to stay live during that. … I have a stance and a posture and a voice, sort of a facial mask, and all of that's a little painful. So in a weird Catholic way, the pain serves me."
Something he appreciates about Dickens' approach to Scrooge: "What's great about the story is that the way Scrooge acts is pretty much explained by the events of the play. He's not just a mean guy — which can be a bit of a trap for the actor playing him. To me, it's a lot about the women in the play, or lack of women. I always thought Scrooge felt that he was abandoned three times by women (his mother, sister and fiancee, who depart for different reasons)."
On handling his emotions during Scrooge's journey: "It's kind of amazing. Rather than having access to my emotions, it's more a matter of controlling them. It's a little inexplicable, but I really feel I have to keep myself in check sometimes."
Advice to his successor: "Because of the difficult physical nature, you have to start by taking care of yourself — physically, mentally, vocally. It's one thing to rehearse the play and a whole 'nother thing to get from the opening to the closing (of the run)."
The role he covets if he returns to "Carol": "Marley would be the obvious one. He's older than Scrooge and literally comes back from the dead. It's interesting, you don't hear why he comes back or what he hopes to get. But I kind of think there's a redemptive element there, too."
Something he was always mindful of despite the play’s demands: “You recall even going back early in your career, how thrilled you were to have a job. And you remember that there are 30 guys who would kill to have your job. They have their shot next year.”
THEATER PREVIEW
“A Christmas Carol”
Opens Dec. 4. Through Dec. 29 at the Alliance Theatre. $14-$75. 1280 Peachtree St. N.E., Atlanta. 404-733-5000, www.alliancetheatre.org.
‘CAROL’ COLLEAGUES ON WORKING WITH CHRIS KAYSER
Elizabeth Wells Berkes (Ghost of Christmas Past): "There is one private moment in the show that I share with Chris that I treasure.
“Playing Christmas Past — after a decade as (Scrooge’s early love) Belle — has opened up the show to me in a whole new way. As Belle, I was in my own world and never allowed to ‘see’ Scrooge as he observed his own past. But as the Ghost, my function is to observe Ebenezer observing. The biggest gift my new role has given me is the privilege of intimately watching Chris as Scrooge, moment by moment. I almost never take my eyes off him.
“So here’s my favorite moment: When Fan enters, Chris turns upstage, and I’m the only person in the entire theater who can see his face as he sees his long-dead little sister alive again. It gets me every time. Night after night, year after year, Chris is the kind of actor who is unafraid to let his heart break.”
Susan V. Booth (Alliance artistic director): "Every year, as part of our 'Taste of the Season' program (where we offer scenes and songs from upcoming shows), we unmercifully pimp out Chris to promote 'A Christmas Carol.'
“Several years back, in advance of a season that included a production of ‘Go, Dog, Go’ for our youth audience, we sent him onto the stage in full nightcap and gown regalia with a dog. My dog, Spud, a Dalmatian-Lab.
“From backstage I first heard the ‘Awwww,’ and then heard the laughter and then the applause. And then Chris returned backstage. Apparently, upon sensing the footlights, my dog had traveled to stage edge, glanced at the audience and gone into perfect hunt stance.
“As Chris handed the leash to me, his words were, ‘(Expletive deleted). Upstaged by a DOG!’”
Rosemary Newcott (director): "Back at the Academy Theatre's 'A Christmas Carol,' I was playing the Ghost of Christmas Past and Chris was Scrooge. Chris and I were both situated on a high platform that was designated to be his bedchamber.
“I remember we were talking with director John Stephens about how Scrooge might enter into the Past from this platform. I think it was John who thought it would be great if we could just fly off the platform. So, Chris did. He threw himself off the platform and grabbed hold of a pole a foot or so away and swung himself to the ground — effortlessly and magically. (The Ghost took the stairs.)
“To this day, I am still amazed by how much he conveys through the physical life of each of his characters. He is one in a million.”
Andrew Benator (Jacob Marley): "What I admire most about Chris is something I was aware of but had not articulated until I saw a quote of his in a recent interview. His advice to the next actor playing Scrooge was to give it everything he's got — every performance — because every night is opening night to that audience.
“I’ve done several plays with Chris, and that work ethic runs through every show: He is an absolute professional. He sets a great example for younger actors to follow.”
Bart Hansard (Mr. Fezziwig, Ghost of Christmas Present): "I don't recall the first time I saw Chris Kayser onstage. He was always there, an Atlanta stalwart long before I considered throwing in my lot with these 'theater-folk.'
“I don’t recall the first time he and I worked together, but I do remember the first time I saw Chris perform the role of Ebenezer Scrooge.
“I remember how much he inhabited my imagined ideal of Dickens’ classic curmudgeon.
“I remember how I reveled in his ‘Bah, humbug’-gery!
“I remember how I pitied his lost loves and opportunities in his life.
“I remember how moved I was by his redemption and transformation into a man who loved life, the world and, most of all, ‘kept Christmas in his heart the whole year round.’
“When I got the chance to perform in the Alliance’s ‘A Christmas Carol,’ I was over the moon. I had waited for years to step into an opening, and was triply thrilled to get to play Fezziwig, the Ghost of Christmas Present and other characters that whirl around Mr. Scrooge on his Christmas Eve voyage.
“Working with Chris and playing opposite his scrupulous interpretation of this arguably most famous of Charles Dickens’ creations was the icing on the cake.
“Rosemary Newcott, our director, had placed me right where I wanted to be. But, definitely be careful what you wish for!
“Stepping into a show where most of the actors are returning to roles they have performed for several seasons; a whirlwind rehearsal process of 13 days; learning songs and choreography; costume and wig fittings; and then a tech where not only do you navigate fog, flying ghosts and levitating on a pedestal, but a myriad of costume changes as you circumnavigate the entire backstage and bowels of the theater to make meticulous entrances. … It beats moving cinder block, but whew!
“Through it all, Chris was a rock. He would calmly help me by simply letting me know that all would be well, things would fall into place and, come hell or high water, we were doing this show for folks who had made this a big part of their own family’s holiday traditions, so there was ‘no crying in baseball!’
“Over the last nine seasons, I have returned to this production for many reasons. Working with Chris and experiencing his performance nightly with the best ‘seat’ in the house is a huge one.
“We all play many characters, the better to populate jolly ole London.
“Scrooge is the one character who is constant, and Chris is onstage about 97 percent of the time. The company all comes flying at him throughout the show.
“Sometimes, just sometimes, you get a bit … lost, so to speak.
“Near the end of the show, the charity workers who were rebuffed by him earlier meet a transformed Scrooge in the street. He generously gives to their cause, his change of heart shocking and delighting them.
“As he hands us a generously stuffed change purse, we have an exchange where in our excitement, we are flummoxed. I, in character, blurt out, ‘I don’t know what to say!’
“During one performance, he handed us the change purse and I looked into it, dutifully flummoxed. Perhaps I was personifying the essence of flummoxed, but I blanked on my line.
“I had to say something, so I started hemming and hawing and kerfuffling and finally, after an eternity, managed to say the line: ‘I don’t know what to say!’
Chris looked at me with a glint in his eye, and evenly replied, ‘Clearly.’
“I couldn’t get offstage fast enough before I was consumed with giggles.
“Chris is not retiring. We will still enjoy his work onstage. I will still have the opportunities to work with him in the future. He may even show up as another denizen of ‘Christmas Carol.’ Though not as Mr. Scrooge.
“The show will reincarnate, as it has when other actors and directors and crew have stepped out to a change of pace, or a relocation, or just wanting a ‘normal’ Christmas season.
“We all return to this story, the performers, the running crew, the audience. … We return to a story that everyone knows the ending to because we all hope to be better than we think we are.
“We all want to correct our mistakes and be redeemed. We all want to be a ‘better Scrooge.’
“But I will miss ‘my’ Mr. Scrooge. I know of none better.
“This time, I really don’t know what to say.
“And, I am not giggling.”
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