When familiar holiday traditions are revived each year, their magic can become less powerful, until returning to an old tradition evokes only a memory of past emotion. The 32-year-old production of "A Christmas Carol," now playing at the Milwaukee Repertory Theater, should be such a tradition. But despite a familiar ending and a relatively standard production, this show maintains the power to put the Scroogiest collegian in the holiday spirit.

This incarnation of Dickens' classic story maintains his familiar dialogue. The show is neatly divided into five sections, presenting Scrooge's miserly existence and guiding the audience through his transition into St. Nicholas, London, through visions of his past, present and possible future. The story's extreme familiarity means it is easy for attention to drift when the pacing becomes slack, but this is a rare problem in the 120-minute production.

The pre-show curtain is painted to resemble an illustration plate in an old print of the book, and a curtain announcement by an actor in character, the tolling of bells, beautifully sung traditional carols and narration by the ensemble place the show in a suitable storybook setting. The staging by director Judy Berdan is natural and deftly separates Scrooge from the bustling, cheery world around him.

The set and costumes of the show, all in similar muted tones, maintain the sense of storybook escapism. A few jarringly odd costuming choices, such as a Jacob Marley who looks like a moldy escapee from "Cats" and a Jack Skellington mask on the Ghost of Christmas Future, don't quite upset the show's overall mood. Best of all is the lighting by Nancy Schertler: green and dank during Marley's visit, warm and golden on Christmases past and an inescapable harsh white spotlight on Scrooge.

While James Pickering will soon give his 300th performance as Scrooge, his is by no means a dull interpretation. He is crusty without caricature at first, later filled with grief and then happy without hysterics. Jonathan Gillard Daly is appropriately paternal as Bob Cratchit, and in a slight variation on other interpretations, Mark Corkins as the Ghost of Christmas Present does not begin jolly and end with impatience but reveals his frustration with Scrooge throughout.

The Christmas Future section could do with some of Corkins' urgency; this segment plods save for a delightfully demented scene between the grave robbers.

In the end, "A Christmas Carol" provides a gentle message of the fellowship of humanity, a welcome reminder as commercialism and finals threaten to overtake these next few weeks with anxiety.