Finding a way into Charles Dickens’ classic ‘‘A Christmas Carol” isn’t easy. Audiences have expectations, especially when a theater company such as North Shore Music Theatre has been delivering eye-popping holiday productions for 18 years.

This year, NSMT artistic director Jon Kimbell went back to some basics in the adaptation he wrote with David James and David Zoffoli. The result, directed by Kimbell and Kathleen Powers, leans heavily on Dickens’ lyrical prose and the darker tones of the tale, but balances the storytelling with special effects that will have audiences gasping.

North Shore’s arena setting is well-suited to this story, and scenic designer Howard C. Jones takes full advantage of it, placing musicians all around in high and low nooks. This ‘‘A Christmas Carol” is subtitled ‘‘A Musical Ghost Story,” and is narrated by a grown-up Tiny Tim (Erik Gratton) looking back on what happened 20 years before. Kimbell and musical director Brian Cimmet’s blend of original music with traditional carols sets the right tone and embellishes the story without stopping the show for sing-alongs.

The production boasts some old favorites, including David Coffee as a curmudgeonly and then childlike Ebeneezer Scrooge; the wide-eyed and winsome Cheryl McMahon as Scrooge’s housekeeper and Mrs. Fezziwig; and Tom Staggs as the high-flying ghost of Jacob Marley. It also features some new faces, including a wonderful Benjamin Howes as Bob Cratchit and several others who cleverly double in roles that represent two aspects of character. Teri Dale Hansen has an angelic voice as the Ghost of Christmas Past and Mrs. Cratchit, and Robert Jason Jackson is a gregarious Gentleman and Ghost of Christmas Present.

Sound designer John A. Stone deserves special credit for the creepy sounds of the Ghost of Christmas Future (the scrape of tombstones rising will haunt you) and Michael Goudzwaard’s special effects are clever and creative.

North Shore’s production of ‘‘A Christmas Carol” gooses the familiar classic with a few original twists, giving this family favorite a fresh new look.

Somehow the central message of Charles Dickens’ classic novel “A Christmas Carol” never gets old. Its uplifting message of spiritual redemption and the joys of Christmas is beautifully conveyed by this year’s intelligent production at North Shore Music Theater.

Using a narrator, Erik Gratton, as a storyteller allows audiences of Artistic Director Jon Kimbell’s adaptation of the classic to keep up with the complex, if well-known plot. Kimbell assumes the director’s chair again this year, and his vision concentrates less on showy effects — although there is certainly plenty to please the eye in this production — and more on the timeless truths of these characters and this delightful story.

Years of experience playing the story’s central figure, the miserable and miserly Ebeneezer Scrooge, have forged actor David Coffee into the very essence of mean, leavened with a sneaky sense of humor. Does Coffee’s face become ever more severe each year? It seems to. And every year he has more fun with his speaking voice, extending its range and expression.

Coffee does not overplay Scrooge, and yet his characterization is vivid and satisfying. His spiritual transformation at show’s end is delightful and believable.

The production opens with a joyous street scene that immediately elevates the spirit. There are dancers, street vendors, even a small group playing hand bells. Around the circular ceiling of the theater is projected the skyline of 19th century London, and a small outpost of the orchestra plays from an ornate little balcony.

This complex and ebullient opening number intensifies the contrast of the Spartan severity of the office of Ebeneezer Scrooge in the scene immediately following. It is here we first see Scrooge’s gentle and downtrodden clerk Bob Cratchit, nicely realized by Benjamin Howes, who has a fine tenor voice.

Mark Aldrich is on his second year as Scrooge’s nephew Fred. The humorous redhead handles comedy well, and the character likes to gently bait his nasty uncle, even paying some carolers to annoy him. Later in the production he sings in a lovely, sharp, clear tenor.

Two superb acrobatic dancers, Luke Rawlings and Nicky Venditti, play the spirits who seem to control the time travel and other odd happenings.

This production features an aerial green Marley, flying over the audience dragged by the chains he forged in life. Tom Staggs has been creating the former partner of Scrooge at North Shore for about as many years as the character he plays has been dead. Irascible, and prone to fly off the stage, literally, whenever Scrooge annoys him, Staggs’ Marley is wonderfully agile and a creepy pleasure to watch.

Cheryl McMahon is comical as Scrooge’s put-upon housekeeper and equally fun in her eccentric costume and headdress as Mrs. Fezziwig.

Whether the costumes designed by Joanna E. Murphy are the elegant pinks of the Fezziwig party scene or the russet earth tones and extravagant hoop skirts of the party at Nephew Fred’s house, they work well for this production. So do the hair and wig designs of Gerard Kelly.

A visual high point of this production every year is the entrance of the shimmering white Ghost of Christmas Past, elegantly sung by Teri Dale Hansen, who later morphs into the feisty Mrs. Cratchit.

Another visual high point is the towering, red-velvet-clad Ghost of Christmas Present, played this year by Robert Jason Jackson, who has a resounding laugh, a vivid and comedic face and an expert stride on stilts. He is a dominating presence on stage.

As Scrooge’s fiancée Belle, Briga Heelan is hauntingly beautiful and touching.

As Fezziwig, Joseph Dellger is a nifty dancer and has a clear and vigorous singing voice.

As Tiny Tim, Andrew Murdock, already an experienced professional, has a surprisingly powerful voice and is still small enough to ride on someone’s shoulder.

Richard Gallagher makes a handsome young Scrooge and a truly creepy Ghost of Christmas Future.

Be aware there are unexpected flashes of fire and a few scary visual and sound effects in this elegant production.

In case we don’t get a white Christmas, you can enjoy some gently falling snow during the show. Also, check out the wonderful, costumed caroling quartet from the NSMT Youth Performance Choir in the lobby.

Certain rituals make the holiday season. Putting up the lights. Finding a tree. Dropping the first few dollars into the Salvation Army bucket. Going to the North Shore Music Theatre’s production of “A Christmas Carol.”

These are but a few of my favorite things and they help make the season special.

Having only lived in Beverly for about eight years, the “Christmas Carol” tradition is relatively new for me — unlike the Salvation Army bell ringers, who have rung in the season for as long as I can remember. Also unlike the Salvation Army bell ringers, this edition of “A Christmas Carol” needs no charity. It deserves good reviews all on its own.

For those expecting the usual sumptuous, heavily embellished version of Charles Dickens’ classic ghost story, this production might be somewhat disappointing.

Director Jon Kimbell, artistic director and executive producer at NSMT, cut this year’s production right down to the bone. Gone are some of the big and, for me, overblown, production numbers. He mutes the party sequences in particular. And the toned-down score and pared-back dialogue expose the reason why Dickens’ story lives.

The music rises up from the production’s foundation. It supports the characters’ emotions and punctuates the story, rather than draping itself over Dickens’ original artistic vision. A new song, “Little Child,” in the Cratchit family final scene, in particular, strikes a heartfelt chord.

Dave Coffee, as Scrooge, also delivers a subtle and nuanced performance this year. A lot less Mr. Magoo and a lot more Alastair Simm, who starred in the original, and best movie version, released in 1951 — although I admit a weakness for the “The Mupppet Christmas Carol.”

Gone is the top-hatted Purple Pimpernel version of the Ghost of Christmas future. Instead we have what Dickens originally created: A hooded, foreboding, figure with boney, protruding, accusatory fingers pointing out from under a black cloak.

Marley’s Ghost remains as frightening as ever, bathed in ghoulish green light, flying about the stage, his agony groaning and resounding in and throughout the theater.

“The Marley scene, we really slowed down so you can hear what he is really saying,” said Kimbell.

The Ghost of Christmas past, too, retains her ethereal, gossamer, cool compassion.

George Dvorsky, almost as much an NSMT institution as the Ghost of Christmas Present as Coffee is as Scrooge, is missing this year. And that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Certainly Dvorsky, with his wide smile and baritone, was a highlight of any NSMT “Christmas Carol.”

But in this production, as Kimbell envisioned it, Dvorsky’s Christmas Present may have been out of place, a touch too much swagger and smile.
Robert Jason Jackson also lights up the stage with his smile and has the voice to pull off the role. But he also brings an edge to the spirit.

Jackson never forgets what he has crawling about under his robes. And when he releases them, the audience can believe his anger because it’s been simmering just under the surface the whole scene.

One element some may find disappointing: The Ghost of Christmas Future, Richard Gallagher, reveals his face at the end of his scene.

“The reason is the actor who plays Christmas Future also plays the young Scrooge. I want Scrooge to connect and see it’s himself. His future is himself. We create what we become and we are responsible for it. That’s why he reveals himself to Scrooge,” said Kimbell.

Overall, Kimbell and the cast have renovated and restored the real “Christmas Carol.” They have pealed off the vinyl siding added over the years. And they have revealed the bones of a beautiful Victorian, with its turrets, plinth blocks and stained-glass windows intact.

For all its comparative sparseness, the production allows Coffee his full flight as a transformed Scrooge, a fully realized human being and allows the audience to share in that joy as no other NSMT production before it.

Practice makes perfect. Sometimes going back to an original concept does too. This year, North Shore Music Theatre's Artistic Director, Jon Kimbell, has taken the helm of their perennial seasonal show he helped create eighteen years ago. He's carefully reduced some of the extras added to A Christmas Carol - A Musical Ghost Story in recent years, but retained some old favorites. IRNE winner David Coffee returns as the area's most lovable Scrooge, IRNE winner Cheryl McMahon is once again his Cockney housekeeper, and Tom Staggs still soars overhead as the ghost of Jacob Marley.

The score based on traditional carols and songs has been tightened by music director Brian Cimmet, and only drops the "Pig" song from the final Stave. There's less DayGlo and a somber scary Ghost of Christmas Future played by Richard Gallagher, who also plays Young Scrooge. Robert Jason Jackson seen at the Huntington last season as Holofernes and on Broadway in "Aida" is a new towering Ghost of Christmas Present--still on stilts--and Teri Dale Hansen is a new and luminous Ghost of Christmas Past as well as Mrs. Cratchit. The show is narrated by Erik Grafton as grown up Timothy Cratchit, in shirtsleeves, and Australian Benjamin Howes, seen Off-Broadway in [title of the show] is Bob Cratchit. Mark Aldrich is back for a second year as Scrooge's nephew Fred and Briga Heelan, who started with NSMT's Youth Academy, plays both Fred's new wife Meg and young Scrooge's lost love Belle.

There's a bit more fog in old London Town, but the setting is much the same as previous productions.. The musicians are again spread between two raised platforms and a visible pit. The ensemble is strong and the opening number includes the children of the company playing handbells. All in all the production emphasizes the humanity of the people in Dickens's story and gets the audience singing along with the curtain call's "We Wish You a Merry Christmas."