Scrooge at The Alhambra

The ghosts of Christmas past, present and future visited Bradford early last night – and got a standing ovation.

The audience leapt to its feet at the close of a spectacular show blending state-of-the-art special effects – courtesy of the man behind the Harry Potter movie illusions – with traditional elements of Charles Dickens’ much-loved Victorian ghost story.

The loudest applause was for veteran performer Tommy Steele, bringing Ebenezer Scrooge beautifully to life throughout his spooky Christmas night.

With rousing choral singing and feel-good song-and-dance routines, including cockney knees-up number Thank You Very Much, this is a traditional family musical, drawing strongly on the humour and pathos of Dickens’ storytelling. With genuinely chilling ghostly scenes and suitably sentimental scenes around the Cratchits’ kitchen table, this was a story of times past meeting technical illusions of the present.

Impressive sets created by magician Paul Kieve captured the gloom of Victorian London and the gothic spookiness of Scrooge’s bedroom.

Phantoms swirling in smoke magically appeared out of the darkness, and the Ghost of Christmas Past made a dramatic exit straight through a closed window. Even Scrooge’s ghostly door knocker brought a chill to the spine, turning into a moving face at the blink of an eye.

And if you’re old enough to remember Donald Pleasance’s Spirit of Dark and Lonely Water, you may flinch at the Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come.

Tommy Steele was a likeable grump as Scrooge, drawing on the human qualities of the old miser and bringing a rounded element to the iconic character.

When he sang two of the show’s memorable numbers, A Better Life and I’ll Begin Again, he did so with a convincing surge of emotion, without tugging too much at the heart-strings.

The top quality cast also included Claire Marlowe, James Head and David Lyndon as the three spirits, Barry Howard as tortured soul Jacob Marley, Geoffrey Abbott as Bob Cratchit, and Halcro Johnston as a delightfully jolly Mr Fezziwig. Well done too to the talented youngsters from Horsforth’s Scala School of Performing Arts.

Runs until Saturday.