Christopher Donahue Photo by Brett Beiner

In his second year as Scrooge, Christopher Donahue delivers a character who is capable of witty one-liners and asides ("If I could work my will, every idiot who goes about with 'Merry Christmas' on his lips would be boiled with his own pudding–and buried with a stake of holly through his heart!") even while his greed marks him as desperately in need of the ghostly visits he receives. I missed his debut last year, but Donahue stands up to Larry Yando, the brilliant ghost of Scrooge past. I especially enjoyed him after his transformation (as I did with Yando). When he says, "I am quite a baby," it is so obviously true in spirit that one merely has to see his mannerisms to know that the old former miser will never suffer his partner's fate.

Speaking of Jacob Marley, Daniel José Molina returns for his fourth year as the unfortunate ghost doomed to walk the night in chains because he never understood, any more than Scrooge, that "mankind was (his) business." The staging is somewhat different from the past, as it features a ratcheting chain that will pull Marley back to his doom, but the power of the moment and Molina's performance are as good as ever.

John Hudson Odom is an absolute revelation as Bob Cratchit, the preternaturally positive character who suffers both at the hands of his employer (Scrooge) and the poverty that may kill his youngest child, Tiny Tim (Ella Boparai). Through everything, even as we can see him fighting back tears, Odom never allows his Bob to break down. Like his fellow optimist, Scrooge's always hopeful niece Frida (gender-swapped from Fred in 2017 and played by Amara Danan) provides a counterpoint to the sour attitude of pre-transformation Scrooge and the darkness of the early parts of the play. (Keith Parham's lighting design is at its brightest in each of these houses.)

The ghosts as well are marvelous. Lucky Stiff, a gifted arial gymnast in her fifth Goodman Carol, makes Christmas Past a calm, almost startlingly still flying guide for Scrooge. (Donahue has a ton of fun with the flying, just as Yando did before him.) Silently hovering in the air while her charge revisits his past, she is more angel than ghost, perfectly encapsulating the role.

Bethany Thomas, resplendent in Heidi Sue McMath's update on the Christmas tree-like costume that several years ago replaced the old Santa-in-a-horn-of-plenty costume (which also was marvelous), seems to have more fun each year with the Ghost of Christmas Present. She is initially merry and fiercely wants everyone else to be as well; at one point she even stops a street fight with a lovely Christmas carol. Later, however, as her Spirit is fading away, she is powerful and frightening to the humbled Scrooge, throwing his own earlier ugly words back in his face and warning him about her "children" Ignorance and Want, who emerge from beneath her clothes in the forms of a ragged and wretched boy and girl (Carmelo Kelly and Boparai) who move toward Scrooge as if they were channeling the ghost girl of The Ring, one of the show's creepiest moments. (Kelly also doubles as the "Turkey Boy" on Christmas morning.)

The Ghost of Christmas Past is a totally silent character that Molina comes back to inhabit in all its frightening, frigid horror. Those who have seen past Goodman incarnations of this spirit will recall the gaunt, giant Grim Reaper easily double human size; this one is still taller than life, but closer to the height of a particular tall NBA player. That is still imposing (ask Victor Wembanyama's opponents) but not quite as terrifying.

At a time when the gap between the haves and the have-nots has grown to levels not seen since the Gilded Age (if then), A Christmas Carol seems particularly important. Dickens' novel celebrates the powerful positivity that poorer people often seem to possess even as it takes the rich to task for failing to treat others more fairly and front-ends the idea that money can't buy happiness. Would that humanity finally embrace this notion from 1843; then it might truly be a happy Christmas.

A Christmas Carol runs through December 31, 2025, at Goodman Theatre, 170 N. Dearborn, Chicago IL. Fore tickets and information, please visit goodmantheatre.org or call 312-443-3800.