Marley got a raw deal. Sure as he was dead as a doornail on that fateful Christmas Eve when he showed up clanking his spectral chains in Ebenezer Scrooge’s bedchamber, he got the short end of the holly stake. Ebenezer, of course, was blessed with redemption. But Marley? The last we see of him in Charles Dickens’ evergreen classic, the poor fellow is being sucked, howling and horrified, back into the bowels of – well- Dickens doesn’t say precisely. Suffice to say, it was no place terribly pleasant.
   About a decade ago, Tom Mula – a veteran Scrooge from many “A Christmas Carol” at Chicago’s venerable Goodman Theatre – found himself without an answer when his young niece asked him why Marley didn’t also get a shot at saving his soul. Mula’s response? “Jacob Marley’s Christmas Carol.” Like it’s older companion volume, ”Jacob Marley’s Christmas Carol” is both a thrilling page-turner and a provocative, exquisitely inspiring commentary on the importance of keeping one’s earthly priorities straight. As a one-man show, the piece is a wonder.
   Directed by Steve Scott, Tom Mula portrays Jacob Marley and an entire stage full of other Dickensian characters. Truly, he deserves a nomination for the 2008 Jeff Award (Chicago’s version of the Tonys) for Best Ensemble for his bravura performance in this solo show.
   It begins without fanfare. On a bare stage, a Mula – wearing a simple black shirt and black pants - lights a single candle and utters the first line of a Christmas Carol. “Marley was dead: to begin with. “ And from there, Mula begins a thrilling detour from Dickens’ familiar script. Marley was not merely dead, he was really most sincerely dead. It’s the first of many chuckles in a story that twists and turns as delightfully as mistletoe woven through an evergreen bough. In addition to making Marley’s adventures in the afterlife a whizbang of an adventure story, Mula weaves in the profound questions of life, death, God and goodness that no mortal can escape pondering.
   “I thought that we were forgiven our debts!” Marley blusters when he suddenly finds himself staggering under the weight of a lifetime’s worth of cashboxes, ledgers and heavily padlocked safes. “Not my department,” sniffs the bull doggish old gent (“about the size and shape of a small chair”) serving as something of an intake counselor to the afterlife.
   From the dark, dusty hallway where Marley learns of his formidable debts, the story opens up onto a vast, vivid universe. As a writer, Mula is a poet without pretense - his descriptions of the world we know and the one we don’t are searing and beautiful. As a performer, he’s a shapeshifter of uncanny abilities, morphing from a despair-ridden Marley to conniving teenage Scrooge to the tart-tongued, jelly bean-sixed guardian angel charged who takes up residence inside Marley’s ear.
   Mula’s ability to create unforgettable scenes without the help of sets, fancy lighting, costumes or any of the usual bells and whistles is similarly extraordinary. Listen to the description of the membrane of lost, shrieking souls endlessly circling the earth and your blood will run cold. Hear Mula describe an otherworldly bureaucrat morph into something vast and awe-inspiring and you will find your jaw has hit the floor.
   It doesn’t matter whether you’re celebrating Eid or Hanukah or Kwanzaa or Christmas or nothing whatsoever. “Jacob Marley’s Christmas Carol” is exaltation against the dark.

“Jacob Marley’s Christmas Carol” continues through Jan. 3 in a Theater Wit  production at Theatre Building Chicago, 1225 W. Belmont. Tickets are $28. For more information, call 773/327-5252 or go to www.theaterwit.org