As the Guthrie Theater moves in on a half-century of annual adaptations of Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol,” we can look back at productions that have ranged in quality from brilliant to perfunctory.

At its best, it’s a heart-filling tale of transformation, full of energy and eye-popping design ideas. In its weakest incarnations, it carries an obligatory air, as if the cast understands it’s a cash cow intended to fund productions about which the company is considerably more excited.

I certainly wouldn’t put the 2023 version down there with the least of the company’s “Carols,” but it certainly came off as a low-energy affair at Friday’s opening. It has little in the way of spark or sparkle, plodding along at an unvarying pace and lacking much in the way of charisma or colorful characterizations. Throw in the dim lighting and paucity of movement, and it’s a “Carol” that lulls more than inspires.

Lavina Jadhwani’s adaptation is certainly not at fault, for the Guthrie debuted it last year in a strong production, with Dickens’ powerful points about greed and its social costs coming through loud and clear. Any qualms I had about Matthew Saldivar’s curiously youthful take on the miser at the story’s center, Ebenezer Scrooge, not being mean or sociopathic enough were dispelled by this year’s first visit to his office when he went to the stove to pluck a hot coal from it to avoid wastefulness and toss a freshly delivered gift into it.

But the opening-night performance felt a lot like that stove, as no fire really got going and warmth was kept to a minimum.

Not that chills aren’t an important part of “A Christmas Carol.” The visit from Marley’s ghost (Charity Jones) has the potential to be not only tremendously creepy, but to carry one of the story’s central messages when the chain-clad specter howls, “Mankind was my business!” Yet this year’s version drowns too much of that scene’s discomfiting mood in thunderclaps and flashing lights. And it doesn’t help that Matt Saunders’ set design pushes that encounter about as far from the audience as possible, diminishing its scariness considerably.

Speaking of spirits, the three who act as Scrooge’s guides toward rediscovering his humanity are never particularly compelling, although the towering tree wrapped in rotting kudzu that is the Ghost of Christmas Future is daunting at first sight. Yet even that figure succumbs to the staging’s static nature.

But enough about the frights; how about the frivolity? Well, there’s not much of that either, sad to say. The parties at Mr. Fezziwig’s business and the home of Scrooge’s nephew never feel particularly lively, although Regina Peluso’s choreography gives its best effort to getting things going. There’s not enough buzz, bustle or activity in either scene to make it seem like anyone’s having fun.

The cast never feels particularly committed to the material, most noticeably during the songs. It’s a production that seems to have half a mind to being a musical, but Jane Shaw’s original songs and her adaptations of old carols always seem more an interruption than an aid to the story. As with much of this production, more enthusiasm and energy would make a big difference.

‘A Christmas Carol’

When: Through Dec. 30

Where: Guthrie Theater, 818 S. Second St., Minneapolis

Tickets: $134-$17, available at 612-377-2224 or guthrietheater.org

Capsule: The Guthrie’s current “Carol” offers you a very meh Christmas.

Rob Hubbard can be reached at wordhub@yahoo.com.

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