One performer turns a Christmas classic into an actor’s marathon

Should we describe this as "chutzpah," "masochism" -- or "herculean"?

One actor in 34 roles over two hours.

How the Dickens does he do it?

"The first run-through I did I was completely taken aback by how extremely fatiguing it was, but you find yourself at the end of it feeling more awake and alive," says 26-year-old Kellan Baker, a "Tournament of Kings" co-star who expects to be reinvigorated three times this weekend as he essays every role of Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol."

That transforms it into "One Christmas Carol" at the College of Southern Nevada's cozy BackStage Theatre. This is yuletide entertainment handed down from one generation to another.

"I gave it to him for Christmas, I said I just couldn't do it anymore," says Kellan's dad, CSN theater professor Doug Baker, who wrote the one-man adaptation and had performed it since 1996, several times at CSN, as well as engagements in California, Arizona and Utah.

"I remember when (his children) were younger, them leaning on the stage, just watching the rehearsals. I asked Kellan why he wanted to do it, and he said, 'Because I can't have Christmas without seeing it, Dad.' "

Maintaining roughly 80 percent of Dickens' original story, the script throws in its own touches, tweaking scenes and characters.

"It was an exercise in acting chops," says Doug Baker about the piece's creation. "But then it became something quite important. I found the characters I thought told the story the best and made it faster storytelling."

That didn't make it immune to change.

"They are big shoes to fill, but when he gave it to me, I said there were certain things I wanted to change, certain moments that I thought were a little bit more important," Kellan Baker says.

"My father kept saying, 'Make it yours.' "

Pared down to just three chairs, the stark set provides the actor freedom of movement and forces theatergoers to use their imaginations for Kellan Baker's drama-turned-endurance test.

Having to jump from character to character sometimes as quickly as three seconds apart, Kellan Baker assumes the personas of the familiar holiday icons, from put-upon Bob Cratchit to crippled Tiny Tim to the trio of ghostly Christmas spirits. Then there's grumpy ol' Ebenezer, who evolves from "Bah, Humbug!" to "Merrrrrry Christmaaaas!" after a nocturnal journey with his ghoulish guides.

"The switches happen so drastically and you have to be so exact and precise on the physicality that there's really no room for error," says Kellan, whose conception of Scrooge is particularly detailed.

"Getting down his physicality, it's years sitting behind a desk," he says. "He's hunched over his books, his hands are almost always in the position of holding a quill. He's constantly peering."

This weekend, the son picks up where the father left off.

Nothing humbug about that.

Contact reporter Steve Bornfeld at sbornfeld@ reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0256.