'Fezziwig's After Dark' promises adults-only holiday fun

LACONIA — Over the years, during productions of “A Christmas Carol: The Musical Ghost Story” at the Colonial Theatre, the whispered remarks between cast members behind the scenes could get a little bawdy.

References to the scene in the play known as "Fezziwig’s Ball" became a launch for riffs on Fezziwig’s ... well, you know.

There were off-color comments, too, about the ghost of Jacob Marley in chains.

All of this hushed humor became the inspiration the show’s dance leader used to create an adults-only parody of “A Christmas Carol,” writing the script with her husband. “Fezziwig’s After Dark” will be unveiled at the Colonial at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 13, only hours after an afternoon performance of the traditional musical produced each year by Bryan and Johanna Halperin of Powerhouse Theatre Collaborative.

“My hopes are that adults can have an opportunity to have a childless night out, relieve and release all of the stress of the year ... and have fun and maybe blush a little bit,” said Jenna Rogato Romprey, the longtime choreographer for Powerhouse’s “A Christmas Carol,” and a phantom in that show.

“We don’t want to give away too much of it,” she added of the new show, noting there will be risqué dancing, “smaller and sexier” costumes, innuendo, pop songs sung with invented lyrics, and other surprises Powerhouse audiences may not have experienced. Performance quality, though, will be at the high caliber they might expect.

“There’s nothing like this around,” she said.

Something for everyone

Usually, “A Christmas Carol” is performed on Friday and Saturday nights, with matinees on Saturday and Sunday. Halperin said the back-to-back performances on Saturday are often exhausting for the cast, so this year the show will open at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 11, and run 7:30 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 12, and at 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, Dec. 13-14.

The Saturday performance of “Fezziwig’s After Dark” will provide an opportunity for people who may have seen “A Christmas Carol” many times to enjoy something different. Rogato Romprey suggests people take in the Saturday matinee of the traditional performance, have dinner, and return for the parody.

“That will make it easier to get the references. You don’t have to know them, but it makes it even more comedic to have the knowledge of the show,” she said. “There are so many jokes.”

The evening of debauchery and mayhem begins at 6:30 p.m., with a pre-show social hour followed by the premiere performance of Powerhouse’s newest group, the Circuit Breakers improv troupe, at 7:30 p.m. An ugly sweater contest will come next, with the 45-minute “Fezziwig’s After Dark” show as the evening’s final event.

“We’ll hopefully have some laughs,” Bryan Halperin said. “It won’t be a late night. It’s meant to be a fun get together with holiday revelry.”

Creating a parody

“Fezziwig’s After Dark” was the brainchild of Rogato Romprey, who asked Halperin if it could become the Saturday feature performance. The story will be as much of a surprise to Halperin as it will be to the general audience. “The goal has been not to let me see the full thing until opening night,” Halperin said. “Jenna is surprising us with it.”

A trauma therapist in Gilford, Rogato Romprey imagined the parody after listening to lewd back-stage commentary over the years. Because she’s a dancer and not a writer, she asked her husband, Tyler Romprey, to create the outline for the show.

While he works as an orthopedic salesman, he holds a degree in English, and took part in Powerhouse’s Playwriting Workshop last winter; his play was one performed at the new works festival last spring at Prescott Farm Environmental Education Center.

When Romprey was done setting a foundation, for the first time, his wife flexed her own muscles as a playwright.

“The storyline is pretty much that [Ebenezer] Scrooge goes through his whole journey [with the three ghosts] and needs to make a change,” Rogato Romprey said, noting the story begins with the last scene of the traditional performance: Scrooge finds his maid’s flask and has a drink.

“He goes to sleep and our story picks up,” she said. “He’s visited by a lot of the same ghosts and some characters from ‘A Christmas Carol,’ but his memory, with the help of the flask, does not seem to be too accurate.”

Rogato Romprey wrote the play over the summer, finishing in mid-October.

The cast

There are roughly 70 cast members in “A Christmas Carol,” and 17 of them will also perform in “Fezziwig’s After Dark.”

The cast is: Jeremy Hart and Julie Hirshan Hart as Mr. and Mrs. Fezziwig; David Nelson as Scrooge; Andrew Gibson as Marley; Jessica Marchant, Renee West and Rogato Romprey as phantoms/dancers; Catherine Martinez as Belle; Kyle Sidders as Fred and Young Eb; Jennifer Schaffner as Ghost of Christmas Past; Caity Hicks as Ghost of Christmas Present; Emilee Thompson as Ghost of Christmas Future; Adam Beauparlant as Bob Cratchet; and the ensemble of Chris Catalan, Deidre Cullen, Connor Forbes and Robby Sturtevant.

Meet the Circuit Breakers

Halperin said the impetus to create the Circuit Breakers improv group came after two improv workshops proved popular. Auditions were held in mid-November, and 16 people came out for eight spots.

The new troupe will be scheduled for events and folded into some other Powerhouse offerings, following the model of the Power Chords, Powerhouse’s show choir. “It’s just another way for people to get involved,” Halperin said.

During the "Fezziwig’s" performance on Dec. 13, the Circuit Breakers will follow a “Whose Line is it Anyway?”-style format in which audience suggestions provide the prompts for the improv performances. “They’ll go wherever their suggestions guide us,” Halperin said.

Tickets for “A Christmas Carol” and “Fezziwig’s After Dark” are available at coloniallaconia.com or powerhousenh.org.