This is one of those shows that was captured in my genetic make-up. For me, part of Christmas means watching this show. I hadn't seen it for several years, and it was with great cheer this season when I realized it was accessible to me through Hulu and through Amazon streaming.
It's an hour-long show, a musical "freely adapted" from the Charles Dicken novel with Magoo as Ebenezer Scrooge. Watching it now as an adult, I was amazed at the apparent brevity of this show. As a child, it felt epic in length. I could understand why I was afraid of the Third Spirit, a silent, menacing figure shrouded in black, extending a skeletal finger that pointed out events. Yet this time I noticed how Scrooge clung to this spirt. He was frightened by the omens, but he genuinely sought comfort from this spectral figure.
The music is solid. I was reading IMDb trivia about this show where it stated that the show's composers, Bob Merrill and Jules Styne, wrote an additional song for this show that was not used, as all of the animation had been completed. The name of the tune? "People," later made famous by Barbra Streisand. It's amazing to think of this song being written for this vehicle. It's also easy to imagine it fitting in this repertoire; the other songs are that good.
I do wonder what an adult who never experienced this as a child would think of this show. Would they still find it charming? I would like to believe that the music would win them over, but I'm not sure. For me, it does make my holiday.
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