A Christmas Carol

A Christmas Carol at Spencer Theatre At Kansas City Repertory Theatre

Mark Robbins steps into one of literature's most famously tight-fisted roles at Kansas City Repertory Theatre this December, and Scrooge’s sharp-edged miserliness makes the possibility of change matter. This adaptation by Jason Chanos and Stuart Carden doesn't sidestep the spikiness—the counting-house chill, the dismissals, the locked heart. Darrington Clark directs a story in which even a stubborn miser still has a chance to choose warmth. When spirits drag Scrooge through his own past, present and future, the shift from refusal to recognition feels earned rather than automatic.

Charles Dickens built his ghost story around people, not abstractions. The Cratchits and Tiny Tim make caring for other people concrete and personal, showing kindness not as duty but as daily choice. Fezziwig's open-handed hospitality throws Scrooge's isolation into sharper relief. The evening moves between suspense—those spectral visits land with genuine unease—and the tenderness of firelit gatherings and quiet hopes. A ghost story at Christmas offers both edges, and this production holds room for each.

The local staging includes Candlelight Carol, a musical moment that deepens the production's texture without tipping into spectacle. Spencer Theatre gives the tale the space to breathe, letting Dickens's language and the actors' choices carry the night.

Get your tickets for A Christmas Carol at Kansas City Repertory Theatre's Spencer Theatre.