Review: A SHERLOCK CAROL at Lyric Stage Boston

In playwright Mark Shanahan’s clever “A Sherlock Carol,” now at Lyric Stage Boston through December 21, when self-described “consulting detective” Sherlock Holmes hears a knock at his 221B Baker Street door, there’s not a band of Christmas carolers on the other side but rather a visitor seeking his help in investigating the unsolved death of Ebenezer Scrooge.

If you’re scratching your head trying to remember whether Holmes and Scrooge – both fictional characters, of course – lived at the same time, they did not. Charles Dickens introduced the world to Scrooge when he wrote “A Christmas Carol” in 1843, while Arthur Conan Doyle first featured Holmes in his 1887 novel “A Study in Scarlet.”

This mystery – which premiered off-Broadway four years ago this month at New World Stages, with healthy doses of music, mirth, and intrigue – is a well-blended holiday confection that begins with some key establishing facts. It is Christmas Eve, 1894, and a few years have passed since Professor Moriarty, during a struggle with his foe Holmes, met his maker at Reichenbach Falls. It first appeared that both men had drowned but it was later shown that Holmes faked his own death and, instead of resting in peace, became a haunted man – foreshadowing one of the many ways Shanahan overlaps the two worlds of which he writes.

While Holmes initially refuses his visitor’s entreaty, diehard fans of “A Christmas Carol” who also have a weak spot for the pipe-smoking, deerstalker-wearing detective – and there seemed to be many in the audience at the show’s recent press opening – will lean in when Holmes hints he already knows a great deal about the young man and the once miserly businessman who died earlier that very day, perhaps due to foul play. And they will not be disappointed.

With a virtuoso display of deductive skill, the visitor is soon revealed to have been brought up poor, with illness a constant in his early life until the dead man became his benefactor. He is, in fact, the formerly Tiny Tim, now the altruistic Dr. Timothy Cratchit. When he tells Holmes that a famous diamond had been wending its way to Scrooge, who had received a death threat, the detective’s decision is reversed. “The game is afoot,” he says, signifying that this satisfying meld of two beloved characters is off and running.

Director Ilyse Robbins has both helmed (“Noises Off”) and appeared as an actor (“The Drowsy Chaperone”) in prior Lyric Stage productions, so she knows this stage well. For this outing, she populates it with a multitalented cast including Leigh Barrett, Christopher Chew, Mark Linehan, Paul Melendy, Michelle Moran, and Jon Vellante, several of whom play more than one character.

Melendy continues his streak of Great Performances – which this season alone have included Paul in “The Garbologists” at Gloucester Stage and the title character in “Featherbaby” at Greater Boston Stage Company – with his nuanced take on the misanthropic title character.

Much of the humor comes from Melendy’s involvement with other characters. Rich-voiced Leigh Barrett, well remembered as Momma Rose in “Gypsy” at Lyric Stage and Stoneham Theatre (now Greater Boston Stage Company) and Reno Sweeney in “Anything Goes” at Reagle Music Theatre, makes her mark here in smaller roles like Mrs. Dilber, Scrooge’s housekeeper.

Vallente is a sprightly Tim and backs the carolers on guitar. Michelle Moran plays the intriguing Inspector Lestrade. Mark Linehan has the distinction of playing the two people closest to Holmes – Dr. Watson, his trusted friend and confidante, and Irene Adler, the former opera singer who once outsmarted Holmes and remained forever in his thoughts. Linehan hams it up so much, though, especially in his portrayal of Irene in Milton Berle-style drag, that his characters are rendered one-dimensional.

And at various moments, most of the actors are just too self-aware, palpably playing their parts rather than inhabiting them, Melendy’s flesh-and-blood Holmes being a notable exception. Chew is also quite good as the ghost of Scrooge, more empathetic here than usual.

Special credit, however, goes to the exceptional design team of scenic designer Erik D. Diaz, costumer Sophia Baramidze, lighting and video designer SeifAllah Salotto-Cristobal, sound designer Alex Berg, and props artisan Julia Wonkka, who have created one of the most impressive sets ever seen at Lyric Stage. It will not only take you back in time to Victorian-era England, but it very well may also take your breath away.