Kpfa - Bay Area Theater

KPFA theatre critic Richard Wolinsky reviews the 42nd Street Moon production of “Scrooge in Love” starring Jason Graae, at the Gateway in San Francisco through December 22, 2019. 42nd Street Moon website Text of review (differs slightly from audio version). Often remembered and revived, the big hit musicals of the fifties and sixties will never leave us. But there were other shows, minor hits and flops on Broadway, and television musicals that never went that far. These shows had weak books, and usually undistinguished scores with one exceptional song that survives. Cole Porter’s Aladdin, Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Me and Juliet, The Adventures of Marco Polo. The shows served as a backdrop to the bigger ones, the ones we sing today. So when you’re going to the Gateway Theatre to see “Scrooge in Love,” a sequel to A Christmas Carol, starring Jason Graae with music by Broadway veteran Larry Grossman and lyrics by Kellen Blair, it’s easy to imagine this show, first written and produced in 2015, being a revival