Bah humbug. Ebenezer Scrooge is back and ornerier than ever. Studio Theatre of Bath is bringing back the old geezer to the Chocolate Church, 804 Washington St., this Christmas season in the form of Leslie Bricusse’s one-act musical play, “Scrooge.”

The show was performed in 2008 and director Wayne Otto was eager to do it again. “I love ‘Scrooge.’ It’s one of my favorite shows and when I lived in Florida, sometimes I did it every year,” Otto said.

In the finest holiday tradition, Ebenezer (Andy Barber) is visited by three ghosts (Wanda McNeil, Wayne Cochrane and Kylie Forest), not to mention his long dead partner, Jacob Marley (Mike Rowe), all of whom are determined to make grouchy old Scrooge into a real nice guy by Christmas Day.

Along the way, we meet Bob Cratchit (Bruce Montgomery) and his wife (April Purinton), as well as the Cratchit kids (Logan Goodman, Victoria LaRose, Sierra Wallace and Kevin McCoy as Tiny Tim).

Other notables include: The urchin kids (played by Delany Young, Emma Boynton, Ashlee Franco and Anna Rose Marcotte) who give Ebenezer a rough time singing “Father Christmas.” Tom Jenkins, the hot soup man is played by Hugh Conery, and gets to sing the show-stopping song “Thank You Very Much.” The Fezziwigs (John Genthner and Sabrina Conery), regale the audience with the rousing dance number, “December the 25th.”

“There are only two people in the show this year who were in the ’08 show and there are not as many kids this time around. There are eight or nine this year. The last cast had 15 to 16,” Otto said.

Since “Scrooge” is only a one-hour show, the cast will start the show off with carols. “It will be like a first act,” Otto said. “We want to provide a full evening of entertainment.”

A special Friday morning show was performed for all seventh-graders in Regional School Unit 1 to tie in with their study of Charles Dickens, who gave the literary world its iconic anti-hero in “A Christmas Carol.”

“I’m an Ed Tech at Bath Middle School and one of the teachers came to me and said, ‘hey, Wayne.’ We got it all approved and I contacted Woolwich Central School. It’s great to be able to tie this in with something the students are doing,” Otto said.

Regular showtimes are 7:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday nights, Dec. 14, 15, 21 and 22, and 2 p.m. on Sundays, Dec. 16 and 23.

Tickets for adults are $12 and $10 for seniors and students.

Studio Theatre is also joining with the Bath Area Food Bank, offering $5 off the student ticket price for students who bring a non-perishable food donation to the show. These discounted tickets are only available at the door.

For regular ticket purchases, call 442-8455, or visit chocolatechurcharts.org.

For more information, call Wayne Otto at 522- 9954 or email idirectsom@yahoo.com.