Bye, Humbug

In Venice at least, Ebenezer Scrooge wears purple socks, adores a springer spaniel named Rocket, and drives a 1950 Hudson Commodore.

The socks match his sweater.

The spaniel stares back from a photo on his desk.

The Commodore gleams with chrome trim and a two-tone burgundy finish.

"I’ve always loved cars," says Eric Watters, who has played Scrooge in "A Christmas Carol” at the Venice Theatre for the last 16 years. "When I turned 70, I said 'Eric, you're going to get a classic car.'"

That was earlier this year, when he was singing in his annual summer cabaret. Now it's winter, when he stars in a musical version of the classic Christmas story by Charles Dickens that the theater commissioned and first produced in 2000.

Hundreds of South County kids have joined him on stage over the last decade and a half. Thousands of Gulf Coast grown-ups have seen him perform each December.

It's a holiday tradition in Venice. Watters is Scrooge. Or vice versa.

“I can go down Venice Avenue,” he says, “and two or three people will say ‘Hey, Scrooge!’ or ‘I know you!’ That’s one of the things that’s been so hard on me giving up the role.”

Five years ago, Watters survived bladder cancer without missing a single show, but now he’s decided that this will be his final season.

He says he’s sore and tired. Better to leave on a high note.

His final performance Dec. 21 will mark the end of an era for the Venice Theatre. Bye, humbug. The holidays won’t be the same.

Charlie Kollar, an 18-year-old cast member, made his first appearance in “A Christmas Carol” when he was 5 years old. Watters is the only Scrooge he’s ever known.

“In my eyes, he’s timeless,” Kollar says. “He used to lift Tiny Tim a lot faster, but he still shows lots of energy and passion on stage. I don’t know what we’re going to do without him.”

Director Murray Chase says it took years for Watters to command a following in Venice.

The theater used to do five performances of “A Christmas Carol” each year. It kept adding shows. This year, there will be eight.

Scrooge is a demanding role, especially for a 70-year-old. He sings and scolds, then weeps and rejoices in a newfound appreciation for Christmas. It’s his story from beginning to end.

“He never leaves the stage,” Chase says. “Literally.”

Watters wears no makeup for the part, but does darken his eyebrows to appear more sinister. He takes Advil and wraps ACE bandages around his aching knees.

During intermission, he likes to lie down on the bed that is part of the set.

“I just rest and concentrate on what’s coming up — the hard part’s coming up,” he says. “The happy ending is great, but it’s very demanding, physically. Once he sees the light, he has to dance around, run up and down stairs, and click his heels.”

Glowering or teasing

With swept-back silver hair and a prominent forehead creased by time, Watters looks like some kind of historical figure.

President Andrew Jackson, perhaps, or Kennesaw Mountain Landis, the commissioner of baseball back in the 1920s.

When Watters glares at the audience, blue eyes bulging, he becomes a fearsome presence.

“Oh, I glower with the best of them," he jokes. "I like playing the mean stuff the best. It’s fun to be mean.”

Watters breaks into song, as he is wont to do, savoring each Scrooge-y syllable.

“Christmas is a humbug, all so smug and insincere,” he sings. “Christmas, bah humbug, an ugly time of year.”

Offstage, Watters loves to talk and tease. He has a wicked sense of humor. He enjoys running jokes with longtime colleagues.

Laurie Colton, the director of marketing for the Venice Theatre, has worked and sung with Watters.

“He’s quite a character,” she says. “Every day with Eric is a story. He can remember the lyrics to pretty much any song. He’s just a fun person to be around.”

For his cabaret shows, Watters chooses playful titles. This year, for instance, there was “Not genERIC, esotERIC.”

After years as a teacher, administrator and wealth manager, Watters retired, only to return as director of development for the Venice Theatre. His job is fundraising. He started a Presidents Club for people who donate more than $500 each year.

Each December, he greets a fresh cast of children in rehearsals for “A Christmas Carol.” He enjoys their energy, but tries not to get too close.

“I get sick almost every year,” he says. “I mean, there are 40 urchins running around like Petri dishes full of germs.”

Watters laughs. He’s joking. The kids are fine.

“I still have a get-well card from a little girl named Savannah,” he says. “She wrote, ‘I hope you feel better, Mr. Scrooge.”

Finding his way to Florida

Sixty years ago, Watters was a theater kid.

His father was a drama professor and director at Hanover College in Indiana. When he had a part for a child, he turned to his son.

“It was fun,” Watters says. “I got to hang around with a lot of college kids.”

He went on to earn degrees at Lafayette College, the State University of New York-Binghamton and the University of Kentucky. He taught high school English for a few years and planned to become a college administrator.

Then he became interested in investments and money management, working for companies such as Shearson Lehman Brothers and the Bank of Boston.

He and his younger brother followed their mother to Florida in 1983. He rented and then bought a house along a canal in Nokomis.

Watters was married, briefly, but that was long ago.

His mother and brother have passed away. Each Christmas Eve, he hosts a dinner party for friends.

Loneliness is something he shares with Scrooge.

“I cry real tears on stage every night,” Watters says. “It’s not hard. I think of my brother. He died eight years ago. Lou Gehrig’s disease.”

Cancer, chemo, showtime

Chase recruited Watters to play Scrooge in 2002.

While they tell different versions of the same story, they agree on that much.

“I needed someone who could create the role,” Chase says. “And, quite frankly, Eric could draw a crowd.”

Watters laughs when he adds some color and detail.

“It sounds immodest, but I kind of had a name,” he says. “He promised me that it would be billed as ‘A Christmas Carol Featuring Eric Watters,’ which no one else has ever had in Venice. And I’ve held him to that all these years.”

That first season, Chase says, his Scrooge needed some direction.

Watters is more candid. He didn’t learn all of his lines right away.

“There was a night or two when I was fussed a little bit,” he says. “And I don’t like to be fussed.”

So he buckled down, learned his part and kept on playing it.

In 2011, Watters was diagnosed with cancer and underwent chemotherapy treatment. Surgery was recommended, but he put it off until after the holidays.

Chase brought in a stand-in for almost all of the rehearsals. Watters went on stage for all of the performances. The show went on.

The next year was even worse, as Watters suffered through two surgical procedures and recoveries. Doctors had to rebuild his bladder with robotic assistance.

“I had an audience for that, too,” he jokes. “A lot of doctors and nurses in Venice hadn’t seen that kind of operation.”

Watters spent a lot of time on his back. He lost weight, along with strength and stamina, but felt better by December. He returned to “A Christmas Carol.”

Chase thinks it made a difference.

“That was the year for me,” he says. “There was a depth to his performance I hadn’t seen before. I don’t know why — I don’t want to psychoanalyze my Scrooge — but he was better.”

Now the director is the one who fears the future.

Where will they find another Scrooge? Will it change "A Christmas Carol"? How will audiences react?

Chase says he's terrified of having to think about that next year.

Watters enjoys the luxury of shrugging off those questions.

“I don’t know,” he says, flashing his most wicked grin. “That’s not my problem.” 

‘A Christmas Carol’

Performances of "A Christmas Carol," with music by E. Suzan Ott and lyrics by Scott Keys, will be at 7 p.m., Friday through Dec. 21, with a 2 p.m. matinee on Dec. 17. The Venice Theatre is at 140 W. Tampa Ave., Venice. $22, $14 and $12. 941-488-1115. venicestage.com