The wonderful songs reflect this from the bad-tempered I Hate People to the beautifully staged and performed ballad, Happiness - performed with Graham Mackay-Bruce, Abigail Jaye and Gemma Page - to a rousing rendition of I'll Begin Again which almost brought the audience to its feet.
The other star of the show is the magnificent set. Designed by Paul Farnsworth, it is a truly glorious piece of constantly moving artistic technical brilliance which brings the Victorian world to authentically tactile, three-dimensional life.
A superb ensemble cast and fantastic Dickensian costumes complete the picture. In particular Alan Ruscoe as lowly, endearingly optimistic Bob Cratchit, Ray Gardner as the gigantically opulent, Hagrid-esque Ghost of Christmas Present and the wonderful scene-stealing Barry Howard - former Hi-de-Hi! favourite - as the ghost of Scrooge's former business partner, Jacob Marley.
Proceedings are given more than a touch of Christmas magic by illusionist Paul Kieve - who has also worked with the cast of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.
The effects in the show are superb and gained rapturous applause throughout performance.
Ghosts appear (frightening the life out of many audience members) and disappear at will, fly around the stage and pass through seemingly solid sets. And the Ghost of Christmas yet to Come was a truly eerie sight.
There was a much deserved standing ovation at the end which brought a declaration of love from Tommy Steele and a long, long time later a flabbergasted request for everyone to go home. But the audience in the best Dickensian tradition were determined to stay and ask for more - Oliver Twist eat you heart out.
