I recently celebrated my five-year anniversary as a theater critic. As befit this occasion, I noshed on humble pie, sour grapes and cold crow with a snifter of rattlesnake venom. I've already reviewed three different takes on Charles Dickens's beloved 1843 classic, A Christmas Carol. Is there anyone older than my tenure at the Volcano who doesn't know Carol's story beat for beat? I believe it has done me good, and will do me good, and I say, God bless it - for the most part.

The truth is, when kids are little and wide-eyed their parents want to drop Christmas on them like a smart bomb of twinkly festive magic. That includes events such as The 10th Annual Dickens Festival at Stadium, pee stains on Santa's lap at the mall and whatever Christmas Carol's playing in town. I caught a marvelous production of Jacob Marley's Christmas Carol a few years ago. I loved it, but parents trudged away griping it was too dark, not Dickensian enough, as if Scrooge weren't explicitly Hell-bound. But whatever. They brought children. I get it.

So it may be your fondness for Dickens will triumph over any critical faculties as you take in Tacoma Little Theatre's production of Scrooge: The Musical. I don't have that luxury; and besides, I've seen a better production (at the now-defunct Capital Playhouse) of that exact musical with which to compare this one. Make no mistake: A Christmas Carol is difficult and expensive to stage. As we know every line of dialogue, we know where all those razzle-dazzle stage effects are supposed to be. So when the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come emerges, and he isn't a terrifying bunraku puppet or projection but some dude in a bat-burka, one can't help but feel disappointed. My wife leaned over and whispered, "Hark, the Christmas ninja."

This Scrooge is affectionately produced but under-rehearsed, especially its sloppy Act I choral numbers. There are so many wagons moving around, the set started to resemble Conjunction Junction. The crew moved these pieces with commendable timing, but their blue jeans felt not-so-Victorian. Jeffery Weaver provides dozens of period set dressings and props, but the ensemble destroys his illusion by flailing cups around like Wii remotes. An emu carcass alleged to be a turkey is passed around with no regard for imaginary mass. The casting is strange: Matt Flores is an odd choice for Marley, and while Harrison Devlin is game for the role of Tim Cratchit, he looks more Teen than Tiny. I didn't think it was possible to overplay the role of Scrooge, but Jeff Kingsbury succeeds. There's an excess of park-and-bark blocking.

That said, I quite enjoyed Chris Serface's Ghost of Christmas Present, Julia Luna's maternal Christmas Past, and the tighter second act. Steven Walker is solid as ever. Why hasn't somebody given that guy a lead? Bah, humbug.

SCROOGE: THE MUSICAL, 7:30 p.m. Friday-Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday, through Dec. 28, Tacoma Little Theatre, 210 N. I St., Tacoma, $15-$25, 253.272.2281