'A timeless tale for a reason': New director for the Citadel's A Christmas Carol leans into show's emotional connection

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While it might be the first time that Lianna Makuch has directed A Christmas Carol — kicking off its annual run at The Citadel on Nov. 23 — she is far from a Scrooge newbie.

After all, she was raised on The Muppet Christmas Carol (starring Michael Caine as Scrooge) and has returned to the movie numerous times since, even as an adult.

“Michael Caine takes it so deadly seriously – he’s giving this beautiful performance with the Muppets. It’s emotionally connected,” says Makuch, 35. “That’s what makes that movie so great. And that’s what really works the best when it comes to this story.”

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Indeed, the powerful emotional connection forged between the 1843 novella and its audience is what keeps Scrooge fresh through the centuries. Though times change, and technology alters the very landscape, the human yearning for love and redemption is constant.

Makuch has had ample opportunity to reflect on the message posed by A Christmas Carol. She spent the last two years as assistant director to Citadel artistic director Daryl Cloran, who commissioned the 2019 adaptation and directed five subsequent productions. Makuch was responsible for the understudies and the youth company (14 of the 33 cast members are children). The size and complexity of the production (there are a gobsmacking 3,500 costume items) means there is considerable room for error, and the audience must never, ever know.

“There is a whole underlayer (of the show) that the audience has no idea is happening,” says Makuch. “Every year, an understudy and swings (a cast member covering multiple roles in the ensemble) is going to swing on.”

In her new role, Makuch (who is also a playwright, producer and performer) not only contributes to the storied history of A Christmas Carol in Edmonton, she adds an important element to her resume as an emerging theatre director. Her first directing credit happened in 2023 with The First Métis Man of Odessa, by Métis playwright and former Edmontonian Matthew MacKenzie. The critically acclaimed play toured the country, winning three Dora awards in Toronto including Best Direction for Makuch. She assisted Cloran on Jane Eyre in 2022 and will be at his side when Sense and Sensibility arrives at Stratford in 2025.

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“It’s the direction in which my career is moving and that I want it to be moving,” says Makuch. “I enjoy the confluence of mediums that comes together as a director and the specific crafting that goes into it.”

In taking over from Cloran, Makuch treads on hallowed ground. Not only is the show a beloved part of the Christmas season for the audience, it’s a key source of the Citadel’s annual revenue, a reliable money-maker that helps fund new or experimental work, as well as big-budget musicals necessary to draw audience.

Though it’s been a fixture at The Citadel since 2000, when the adaptation by Tom Wood (directed by Bob Baker) made its burgundy-and-green checked debut, the show has changed significantly in recent years. Cloran’s iteration, adapted by Edmonton’s David van Belle and starring St. Albert-raised Ted Dykstra as Scrooge in its initial outing, features a single mother in the role of Cratchit. Set in the mid-1950s and anchored within a department store named Marley’s, A Christmas Carol has been enriched by the addition of a dozen holiday hits and tightly choreographed dance routines. Though the production had challenges in the wake of the pandemic, it rebounded, with Edmonton favourite John Ullyatt now in his third year in the transformational role of Scrooge.

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Still, the story’s beloved characters from Fanny to Tiny Tim must be born anew each and every Christmas season. It’s the director’s job to make that happen.

“This rehearsal period is a time for us to ask some more questions and see what we can find,” says Makuch, a University of Alberta theatre grad. “That’s what keeps shows alive, this investigation.”

While the bones of the Edmonton production are set — its stunning design by Cory Sincennes, its spectacular pyrotechnics — there are always fresh sources of insight, says Makuch.

“It was written in post-industrial era, our production is set in a post-WW2 era…and now we are in a post-COVID world with a lot of shifting paradigms and shifting politics, locally and globally,” she says. “It’s a timeless tale for a reason. It brings us back to our common humanity.”

A Christmas Carol

Adapted by David van Belle and based on the novella by Charles Dickens

Director: Lianna Makuch

Where: The Citadel, 9828 101 A Ave.

When: From Nov. 23 to Dec. 24 at 7: 30 p.m. in the Shoctor

Tickets: Starting at $40 through citadeltheatre.com or by calling the box office at 780-425-1820

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