By MONTAGUE GAMMON

VIRGINIAN-PILOT CORRESPONDENT | DECEMBER 10, 2021

Beatty Barnes, left, as Ebenezer Scrooge and Adaleet Alt as Tiny Tim in the Virginia Stage Company’s “A Merry Little Christmas Carol.”

NORFOLK — The heavy fog that descends on the Wells Theatre stage announces that the Virginia Stage Company’s “A Merry Little Christmas Carol” will be a play of atmosphere and moods.

Of course, there is an eeriness in any ghost story, and Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol,” from which this script is adapted, is arguably the English-speaking world’s favorite ghost story. While it has plenty of the expected suspense and hints of tragedy, this version of the three Christmas spirits reforming the old miser Ebenezer Scrooge is dominated by high-spirited joy, laughter and ebullient glee.

There’s even a bit of pratfall humor and a running gag that references Dickens’ original novella.

“I love the playfulness of this adaptation,” said Tom Quaintance, VSC’s producing artistic director.

He said that he and the cast set out to “find all the joy we can in this.”

The show is full of music, too. Quaintance estimates that about 25% of it consists of traditional Christmas carols. Music director Refiye Tappan steps from behind her piano to play a couple of roles; the actors play violin, accordion and other instruments and sing.

“It’s not a musical but it plays like one,” Quaintance said.

Beatty Barnes Jr. plays the one role of Scrooge. The other adult actors — Dustin Sullivan, Kara Mikula, Matthew Janisse and Kai B. White — “do the heavy lifting,” Quaintance said, by playing 37 parts.

Fifth grader Adalee Alt from Southeastern Elementary in Chesapeake reprises the role of Tiny Tim from VSC’s 2019 “Christmas Carol.” Playwright Mark Shanahan’s script originally called for a puppet but Quaintance told Shanahan that he already had a “great choice” for Tim and had the part rewritten for Adalee.

Likewise, St. Patrick Catholic eighth grader Mesgana Jackson, who played the title role in VSC’s 2019 “Matilda the Musical,” was the director’s shoo-in for the Ghost of Christmas Past.

In the wake of the pandemic, Quaintance said, this is a story about the dangers of isolation and he quoted a line from the show about taking care of your “fellow passengers to the grave.”

“It’s a small cast,” he said, “telling a big story.”