Frasier Star Says "Bah, Humbug"
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As Thanksgiving approaches, so do those warm, fuzzy holiday TV-movies. This year, NBC gives us former Frasier star Kelsey Grammer as Ebenezer Scrooge in A Christmas Carol (Nov. 28 at 9 pm/ET, in case you're TiVoing whilst out gift shopping). This musical version of Charles Dickens' classic tale costars Seinfeld's Jason Alexander, Ally McBeal's Jane Krakowksi and ex-Neutrogena hawker Jennifer Love Hewitt. Now there's a helluva cast!
Grammer, who's a hammy delight in Carol, says it was heartening to play ol' Scrooge, "a man redeemed by love." Here's how he sums up his miser-makes-good gig: "In playing Scrooge," the 49-year-old actor says, "I discovered something extraordinary. That Tiny Tim character represents all the hopes of childhood. It was Scrooge's childhood that was robbed from him. I think it is our childhoods for which we mourn as we grow older — the dreams that didn't pay off or come true.
"When he sees the little boy being buried in a vision, all that is in him that has been killed — through choices of greed and avarice — finally cries out in him, and it redeems him."
Of course, some younger viewers may miss these emotional nuances, but Grammer thinks there's something for everyone in his Carol. "My 3-year-old daughter Mason has seen the rough cut of it," he chuckles. "The other day, she turned to me in her little car seat and said, 'Daddy Christmas mean.' I said, 'What are you talkin' about, mean?' She said, 'Humbug.' So it has had its impact already!"
Of all the takes on Christmas Carol throughout the years, Grammer loves 1962's Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol the best. However, he insists the half-blind cartoon curmudgeon did not inform his performance. "[Squinting my eyes in this musical] was not an homage to Mr. Magoo," he cracks. "It was an active attempt to show how shortsighted he is. This guy has become so myopic, and so broken and bent. If you notice, Scrooge is finally able to stand erect at the end of the production. He lost his way, and he's truly reborn from the feet up as he rediscovers his ability to love."
Speaking of Scrooge, we'll bet his 20 years playing TV's Frasier Crane have made Grammer richer than that old moneygrubber ever dreamed. "I suppose," he chuckles, "but Scrooge had a seat on the [stock] exchange and stuff. That's a lotta bucks!"
