SCROOGE

Normally, Richard Chamberlain's characters can do no wrong.

Even when he broke all his vows as a priest and shattered a woman's heart in the stormy TV drama, "The Thornbirds," Chamberlain made us believe Father Ralph really was a good-hearted fellow with human struggles.

As TV's Dr. Kildare, Chamberlain brought compassion to medicine. As Captain Von Trapp, in the Broadway revivial of "The Sound of Music," Chamberlain chipped through the stoic widower's rough veneer and brought out his softer qualities.

This production of "Scrooge" is Leslie Bricusse's adaptation of "A Christmas Carol."

Already a hit in London, "Scrooge" launches its American tour Tuesday at the Ford Center for the Performing Arts.

Chamberlain is thrilled to take a journey every night with Ebenezer Scrooge, a truly tormented soul.

"Scrooge hordes money and he uses his power to hurt people," Chamberlain said. "He goes through a transformation that's amazing. Scrooge starts out the villain of all time. Then all of a sudden he's Santa Claus. What an arc! He goes from hell to heaven!"

Chamberlain said he finds inspiration watching the classic 1935 movie with Alistair Sim, whom he feels made the quintessential Scrooge.

"Alistair Sim was a brilliant, brilliant actor," Chamberlain said. "He was so funny, so real, and yet so quirky and good. And he brought a divine understanding to this role."

Combining moments of pure spectacle with human drama, "Scrooge" paints a picture of a man who is clearly unhappy with the person he has become.

Bricusse drops hints to show how Scrooge turned out the way he did.

"I relate Scrooge's journey to my own journey in life," Chamberlain said. "I try to make him funny, real and wise."

Chamberlain said we all have a little bit of Scrooge in us, especially when we drift away from our spiritual side.

"When I was younger," he said, "I was intensely selfish and self-involved. I was very cut off. There was nobody I wouldn't have left behind for a good job."

Like Scrooge, the ambitious actor had to slow down and rearrange his priorities.

In "Scrooge," Chamberlain said, he has the chance to play the ultimate role model for human redemption.

"Scrooge finds his own heart," Chamberlain said. "He finds love. It's the only journey there is."

"Scrooge" boasts a large cast of Chicago actors. It has extravagant costumes, a storybook set and a sumptuous score, 19 original songs by the composer responsible for such Broadway hits as "Victor/Victoria," "Stop the World: I Want to Get Off" and "The Roar of the Greasepaint : The Smell of the Crowd."

If Scrooge's encounters with the ghosts seem magical, it could be because Paul Kieve, who created the illusions for "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban," also rigged the magic in "Scrooge."

© 2004 Terry Loncaric