Only one other musical version of A Christmas Carol comes close and that's Muppet Christmas Carol. With the exceptions of Vic Damone's very wooden(but well-sung) Young Scrooge and the intrusive and overlong(if cleverly danced) Devil's Ballet, for such a very early live TV broadcast 1956's The Stingiest Man in Town is truly impressive. Even if there are technical and musical faults here and there they can be forgiven considering that it was one of the first, and those faults don't make the production look too cheap and don't hurt the production very much(or at least to me they didn't). The production isn't lavish visually but there was clear effort made and for very early live broadcast TV musicals it does look pretty good, the use of kinescope effective. The sound engineering is remarkably good and clear, suiting the acoustics well and with good attention to orchestral balance.
The staging is always entertaining, though the stage does look cramped on occasions, and with several heartfelt moments(Mankind Should Be My Business is especially good in this regard). The story is very easy to follow and captures the spirit of A Christmas Carol and Christmas beautifully, the ending was very moving. For a musical to work you have to have good songs, and you certainly have those in A Stingiest Man in Town as well as a musical score that has whimsy and energy. Sure, Golden Dreams does go on forever(still a lovely song though), but faring best were One Little Boy and Mankind Should Be My Business. Not only because they were the ones that stuck out as the most memorable but also they were the ones that sounded like they came straight from the heart the most. The orchestra play wonderfully, just loved the warm-sounded, soaring violins in An Old Fashioned Christmas and Tutti Camarata shows signs of a sympathetic conductor with a great ear for acoustics and textures.
The always-present Carollers played by the Four Lads move the story forward rather than distracting thankfully, the group's harmonies are tight and they blend very well. Apart from Damone, the performances are solid though only one's outstanding. Fred has more screen-time than most other Freds in Christmas Carol adaptations, and Johnny Desmond plays him with warm humour and joviality that he is a likable character, he has a good amount to sing and he does the songs justice. Martyn Green is suitably humble as Bob Cratchit, you really feel sympathy(you do wish considering his calibre as a singer that he had more to do) and Robert Weede is a chillingly effective Marley despite him looking ridiculous(Marley looking like he'd dressed up as a nun for a party was definitely not something that Dickens had in mind). Dennis Kohler's Tiny Tim is most sweet and moving and the three spirits are imposingly played(particularly Robert Wright as Ghost of Christmas Present, maybe there is a little bias as Present was always my favourite of the three spirits).
Outstanding though is Basil Rathbone in the title role, he relishes the miserable miser side of Scrooge's character- his experience in villainous roles being an advantage- but the reformed/changed side of the character is very touchingly portrayed as well. Also surprising was his singing, not only does his voice have a nice sound, speaking as a singer here, but he also sings with feeling, which is every bit as important and perhaps even more so. All in all, very, very impressive indeed, one of the best musical versions of A Christmas Carol and compares well with live musical broadcasts. 8.5/10 Bethany Cox