One of the great things about great art is it can be both comfortingly familiar and sturdy, and an exciting source of reinterpretation.

That’s certainly been the case with the immortal, always timely morality tale that is Charles Dickens’s 1843 “A Christmas Carol” – the subject of many, many versions on stage and screen, musical and not.

The large cast of “A Christmas Carol” at Spotlight Theatre, directed by Adam Sanders.

Breathing electrifying new life into the Victorian-era story is a beautiful, heartfelt production now at Spotlight Theatre, 1800 7th Ave., Moline. Boasting the soaring standard “A Place Called Home” (which always has a home for the holidays), this musical adaptation premiered in 1994, penned by the Broadway heavy hitters Alan Menken (Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, Disney’s The Little Mermaid, Little Shop of Horrors) and Lynn Ahrens (Ragtime, Seussical, Once on This Island).

The supremely talented Spotlight cast of 26 is directed with style and compassion by theater veteran Adam Sanders, with strong, enthusiastic choreography by his wife Bethany Sanders, and solid music direction by Chad Schmertmann.

This “Christmas Carol” has just about everything – a staggering range of surging emotions (including bitterness, cynicism, grief, regret, longing, hope for the future, joy, charity, and generosity); stark drama and character transformation, abundant song and dance, and tremendously transfixing lighting and other effects.

Doug Alderman as Scrooge and Melodie Hoffman as Ghost of Christmas Past.

Spotlight co-owner Brent Tubbs characteristically wears multiple hats in heading up the lighting, set and sound design. Heather Blair seamlessly handles the sprawling task of costume design – one of my favorites is Melodie Hoffman as the vision in white that is Ghost of Christmas Past, complete with white wig and white gown, with lights underneath (like she’s glowing from within), and she has an appropriately light, shining singing voice.

Noah Hill as Jacob Marley

Other glorious visual highlights include Noah Hill as the ghost of Jacob Marley, with his clanging chains; Sara Wegener as the Ghost of Christmas Present (in bright red robe, fiery red hair topped with a wreath, and the playful top of Act II dance with a chorus of very cute women in Bavarian-style outfits; and during the dark Christmas Future scene with Marissa Pedersen as the foreboding mute ghost and a breathtakingly large creature at rear with lit red eyes (also silent, but says so much anyway).

Sara Wegener (center) and members of the ensemble in “A Christmas Carol.”

Toward the close of Act I is another dazzling, eye-popping highlight – the “Mr. Fezziwig’s Annual Christmas Ball,” a rousing group number led by Spotlight veterans Matthew Downey and Becca Meumann Johnson as the boisterous Mr. and Mrs. F. It’s a big, fun, long and joyous dance number with lots of switching partners, almost square-dance style, capped with a kick line.

Of course, any “Christmas Carol” has to have a forceful, substantial Scrooge at its core, and Spotlight does with Doug Alderman as the relentlessly angry, selfish curmudgeon who dares to turn his life around (as his late business partner Marley pleads with him to do).

Doug Alderman, left, as Scrooge in the new “Christmas Carol.”

Even the death of his employee Bob Cratchit’s (Jake Wirz) wife doesn’t initially melt the cold heart of Scrooge toward the start of the story. But as soon as Scrooge is confronted with the first of three ghosts during his eventful dark night of the soul, we see Aldermen’s eagerness to become fully human and it’s deeply touching.

Scrooge (center) with his 18-year-old self, played by Topher Elliott and Amber Whitaker as Emily.

Scrooge is confronted with the death of his sister and then we see the budding romance of 18-year-old Ebenezer and girlfriend Emily (a sweet Topher Elliott and Amber Whitaker).Scrooge (center

Cooper Tubbs (an excellent title character in “Oliver” earlier this year at Spotlight) returns as the iconic Tiny Tim, who also brings out Scrooge’s innate decency and longing for family.

Cooper Tubbs as Tiny Tim and Jake Wirz as Bob Cratchit.

Especially during the holiday season, heeding the message “It’s never too late to change” is always a profoundly important lesson. The “Christmas Together” reprise and “God Bless Us Everyone” at the close of Spotlight’s show are a heartwarming embodiment of the season’s goodwill, of which we could always use more.

A dramatic, climactic scene toward the end of the show.

“A Christmas Carol” will continue this Friday and Saturday at 7 p.m., closing at 2 p.m. Sunday. Tickets for the production are $20 for general seating and $25 for floor seating, available HERE.