A Christmas Carol

A Christmas Carol at Spencer Theatre At Kansas City Repertory Theatre

Mark Robbins steps into the threadbare coat of literature's most famous tightfisted banker, a man who counts coins with the same obsessive care most people reserve for precious heirlooms. Ebenezer Scrooge isn't simply unkind—he's weaponized thrift, transforming every human interaction into an accounting ledger where warmth costs too much and kindness represents wasteful expenditure. Kansas City Repertory Theatre's production at Spencer Theatre lets that famous edge of bitterness bite harder when you're sitting close enough to watch Scrooge dismiss Christmas itself as humbug.

Jason Chanos and Stuart Carden's adaptation, directed by Darrington Clark, brings Charles Dickens's ghost story to life through characters you already half-know from childhood: the Cratchit family crowding around their modest table, young Tiny Tim with his hopeful blessing, generous Fezziwig spinning through celebration while Scrooge watches from the shadows. The spirits—Past, Present and Future—arrive to peel back layers of isolation until the miser glimpses what he's buried beneath decades of ledgers.

The local production weaves Candlelight Carol through the transformation, a musical thread connecting Scrooge's night of reckoning to something warmer than balance sheets. Rather than another seasonal obligation to tick off your list, this becomes the shared live experience families return to year after year, watching a familiar story breathe in real time.

The Spencer Theatre offers Kansas City a seasonal tradition that runs through December 24—grab tickets and let Scrooge's redemption unfold on the Spencer Theatre stage.