As Scrooge….Vahle approaches the role with a Medea-like intensity. There are no easy laughs from goofy antics by a knock-kneed, night shirted grandpa. This is a three-dimensional character whose isolation comes as a clear by-product of strict adherence to a goal: business. Rarely does Scrooge’s severity come off as so pained. Usually the vehicle for laughs, Scrooge’s meanness here is instead made into the absence of something. The missing thing would benefit her by its return as much as everyone around her.