FLAT ROCK — The Flat Rock Playhouse’s production of the timeless holiday classic “A Christmas Carol” was well worth a revisit, especially with Peter Thomasson in the starring role of Ebenezer Scrooge.

The show, which opened Nov. 17, will run through Dec. 17. Showtimes vary.

Besides Thomasson’s acting, Amy Jones was masterful as director, along with choreographer Madison Johnson, music director Alex Sheilds and costume designer Ashli Arnold Crump.

The show, with its large cast, was chockablock with skillful performers and, perhaps, it’s only weakness was having eery sound effects cranked up too much  for the three ghosts’ voices, which came out as overdone and sometimes inaudible.

The Nov. 19 performance, featuring a one-hour first act and a 45-minute second act, split by a 17-minute intermission, was greeted at the end with a standing ovation from crowd that filled about two-thirds of the 506 seats. 

Thomasson excelled in the lead role, especially in light of the often-repeated notion that it is as challenging to play Scrooge in Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” as it is to play Hamlet in William Shakespeare’s “The Tragedy of Hamlet.” Of course, that is because many people already have seen stellar actors play these roles on film as well as on stage, so it is difficult to live up to the memories harbored by the audience members.

However, Thomasson managed to hit the sweet spot with his highly thoughtful and restrained portrayal of Scrooge. He provided familiar aspects in his evocation, along with some delightfully original flourishes.

It is perhaps Thomasson’s humbug and skinflint conviction (with a sliver of self-doubt) that carried the FRP show. And his joy (bordering on giddiness) at the end made this a truly exhibilariting performance.

The ghostly visitations that ensued especially showcased FRP’s superior technical capability.

The FRP production is a loving and faithful adaptation of Dickens’ 1843 novella.

The cast included about a dozen adults, with some playing various roles and narrating, along with almost as many youngsters, most of whom were trained at FRP’s Studio 52.

To that end, Tiny Tim (Liam Teague) was portrayed tastefully as subtle and real, with no over-acting — likely a tribute to the Studio 52 theater training and education program.

Aside from Thomasson, particularly charming were Mr. and Mrs. Fezziwig (Scott Treadway, in one of his several roles, and Linda Edwards), who garnered laughter from the audience. (Treadway has been a long-time favorite of FRP audiences.)

Playing a strong and emotionally moving Bob Cratchit was Willie Repoley, who was paired with Stephanie Wahl’s Mrs. Cratchit.

In a particularly thoughtful commentary in the FRP program, Amy Jones, the production’s director, noted that “in directing this beautiful adaptation, I particularly wanted to explore how and why Scrooge became so hardened. 

“Through the course of the show, we begin to see the events of his past that caused him considerable pain and suffering, and how by constructing a ‘wall’ around himself, he became increasingly isolated and distrustful of the world around him, finally becoming the Scrooge we know and love — to hate.

“In my opinion, Scrooge is, albeit in a different way, as much in need as the Cratchits, the beggar child and all of the other peoople he shuns and dismisses. And he needs a big catalyst to affect change. 

“I hope you will have a truly cathartic experience, knowing that we all have a little Bob Cratchit, a little Fred, a little Tiny Tim and a little Scrooge inside of us. 

“We’re complicated, and no one is truly all good or all evil. I think this is precisely why ‘A Christmas Carol’ has retained popularity over time. It is an insightful and illuminating study of human nature,” Jones noted.

Regarding “A Christmas Carol,” Dickens wrote that “I have endeavored in this Ghostly little book, to raise the Ghost of an Idea, which shall not put my readers out of humour with themselves, with each other, with the season, or with me. May it haunt their houses pleasantly, and no one wish to lay it.”

Now, almost two centuries later, it remains as poignant and inspiring as it ever was.