NEW MILFORD — TheatreWorks New Milford is closing its 2025 season with What The Dickens?, a rambunctious holiday farce that is sure to make you laugh as you leave the theater.

A farce is a comedy that entertains audiences through increasingly ridiculous situations, and What The Dickens? does that in spades.

The show follows a community theater group that has spent weeks rehearsing its impending holiday drama, Arthur Miller’s little known and “totally real” play, Wreath of a Salesman. Commotion strikes as the troupe realizes it has poured dozens of hours into preparing the wrong play, however: the seated audience expects to see A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens.

Bizarre theater hijinks have ended shows before, but the cast of Wreath of a Salesman won’t let it stop them now. The eclectic ensemble says, “The show must go on!” and decides to perform A Christmas Carol to the best of its ability. Hilarity ensues.

What The Dickens? goes all-in on embracing silliness, down to the show’s playbill. The playbill’s cover doesn’t feature What The Dickens?, but rather Wreath of a Salesman, the play the troupe in the story spent weeks preparing for.

That same attention to detail can be seen in the set, which has clearly been repurposed from this other show. It makes What The Dickens? feel as though it’s a real “good show gone bad” situation, and reels the audience in.

Of course, a farce wouldn’t come to life without the actors. Since the show is a play-within-a-play, each cast member is playing two characters: the characters of A Christmas Carol, and the performers in the troupe. They face that challenge head on and deliver.

Joe Keller (played by Bob Lussier) is the straight-laced actor who plays Scrooge. His increasing frustrating toward his fellow troupe members is an absolute delight to watch.

He huffs and puffs as he calls people out on their mistakes or is forced to indulge in their chaos, from nearly choking on glitter to watching the ghosts fail to climb through a window.

Tevye the Dairyman (Gary Millar), who plays Bob Cratchit, has plenty of funny moments. He interrupts Marcellus Washburn (Matt Austin) during his narration, questioning the logistics of a play they haven’t even rehearsed. In verbal spats with Lussier’s Scrooge, Millar as Cratchit will often be so confused that it only riles up his business partner more.

When resources are scarce and the troupe members don’t have fire for the show, Millar forces Willy Loman (Billy Dempster) to sit and “be the fire,” only to have to blow it out several times.

Dempster gets a lot of fun moments as Willy, often having to act as a prop, including the aforementioned fire. Other times, he quickly swaps between characters, which is hastily done with a wig and a big smile on his face.

Rebecca Nurse (Jody Bayer) and Linda Loman (Jenny Schuck) have so much fun playing their respective ghosts, as they do for other miscellaneous characters in the show. One example is the two men seeking a donation, when Bayer and Schuck wear goofy Groucho glasses and match it with an equally silly voice to boot. Hearing their characters stumble through their lines and consistently miss stage direction cues is a treat.

The show itself has several other running bits that always got a good laugh out of the audience, from the faulty stage door that almost never works to no one being able to remember the name of the stage manager (Jessica Chesbro).

Beyond that, the show strings together various gags and references that only get more absurd as time goes on. How each gag is used and how the troupe members try to play them off as though they’re normal parts of A Christmas Carol showcase the cast’s talents and comedic timing.

What The Dickens? feels like a love letter to farce and theater as much as it is to A Christmas Carol. The iconic Christmas classic has been adapted into movies, television specials, and onto the stage so many times that one would be hard pressed to find someone unfamiliar with it.

It’s that familiarity most people have with A Christmas Carol that makes this twist on the story as fun as it is. This is all thanks to Austin, who is also the playwright and director of the show, and whose own sharp comedic chops and passion on stage make him shine in every scene.

Treat yourself this holiday season by watching a group of community theater hopefuls desperately try — and entertainingly fail — to save their show.

Performances of What The Dickens? continue weekends through December 21. For more information, tickets, and show times, visit theatreworks.us/show/what-the-dickens-2025.

Reporter Jenna Visca can be reached at jenna@thebee.com.