No one can ever accuse Copperstate Dinner Theater of too much subtlety. They have pegged their audience, and they have no problem with playing right to them. A perfect example of this is their current offering of the holiday-themed Inspecting Carol by Daniel Sullivan. Co-directors Peter J. Hill and Noël Irick have insisted on slapstick pacing to punch every joke and propel the show forward in a madcap way. The audience was in stitches on opening night as Kathi Osborne and her character’s repertory company tore apart Dicken’s classic in a desperate, pandering search for NEA funding. I may like a little less broadness in my holiday cheer, but I was obviously in the decided minority on Friday night.

The professional Soapbox Playhouse is mounting Dickens’ yearly cash cow. The cast (Duncan Shuckerow, Marty Berger, Carolyn Pain, Roy Hunt, and their new hire ‘actor of color’ Timothy Justin) and crew (Leslie Haddad) are full of ego and bile, overseen by a director (Osborne) who does anything for her art. Into this poisonous mix comes Wayne (Jesse Berger), whom we know to be a wannabee actor “seeking his bliss,” but whom everyone assumes is an NEA funding reviewer. Osborne and business manager Kevin (George Pollard) fawn over him, even allowing him to rewrite the classic script with the help of high-strung lead actor Larry (Hill). Things go crazy until the real NEA auditor (Irick) shows up. The result, while not exactly unexpected, still is very funny in getting to the obvious conclusion.

No joke is left unmilked, no look unheld, and no gag denied. Expressions, actions, and reactions are exaggerated, save for the only subtle performance by Justin, who bemusedly observes the shenanigans. You can’t help but love his understated disgust. Jesse Berger is also wisely a bit less prone to scenery chewing until his absolutely hilarious take as Tiny Tim. For the rest, though, it’s all about the biggest, the loudest, the corniest. Osborne uses her wide and expressive eyes like searchlights, scanning them through the emotions from nervous through insatiable to desperate. As he is always able to, Hunt physicalizes his arch emotions with abandon. Haddad drags herself through the stage manager’s problems until later on in the play, when she and the rest of the cast break up from their own funniness. Hill is funny as he struggles through visions of art and divorce. Pollard is all about the frantic, taking a page from Macaulay Culkin in Home Alone. Marty Berger seems hesitant as the elder statesman, but Pain is quite adept at playing the grand dame forced to abandon elocution. Shuckerow’s aging child actor is lacking in energy and concentration.

Hill’s set and lighting are well-designed offerings for the small space, while Irick and Osborne’s costumes show some flashes of brilliance, such as Hill’s character’s shoes. Berger’s sound design causes some confusion when some people onstage near mics suddenly seem to throw their voices to behind the audience.

The moments of breaking the fourth wall to laugh along with themselves are a disappointment from the ensemble, as it seems a bit too self-congratulatory, but the rest of the show aims for the funny bone and raps it with abandon.