BAH HUMBUG; STEWART BRINGS SCROOGE TO LIFE.

Byline: Valerie Kuklenski Staff Writer

When considering sympathetic characters in literature, Ebenezer Scrooge generally isn't one who comes to mind.

But Patrick Stewart has set out to make the surly miser more, well, likable in a new production of Charles Dickens' ``A Christmas Carol,'' premiering tonight on TNT. It is the familiar story of the tightfisted, graying bachelor in 19th-century England who learns the value of charity and family one haunted Christmas Eve.

Stewart's rendition of Scrooge, honed in hundreds of performances of his one-man stage play, is anything but the blustery bah-humbugging grouch seen in some earlier productions. Stewart plays him tight-lipped and brusk in voice but somewhat understated.

``I had always made Scrooge in a sense the lowest-key person in the story,'' Stewart said of his Broadway show, which came to Los Angeles in 1997. ``I wanted to make him as real and human as possible, because if he's a caricature of a skinflint, who cares? And I wanted the audience to care. When his transformation arrives, his redemption, I wanted it to be of a human being, a flesh-and-blood person.''

Unlike the 1970 musical ``Scrooge'' with Albert Finney dancing in the streets, this production is very loyal to Dickens' book, with much of the dialogue taken from his pages.

This ``Christmas Carol'' sets itself apart from others in its bleaker atmosphere as well. The sooty London of the 1840s, with its chasm between the haves and have-nots, was not exaggerated by Dickens for melodramatic effect, according to Stewart, also an executive producer of the TNT movie.

``His portrayal of early Victorian London, from what I understand, was not only accurate but a little understated,'' Stewart said. ``If you were not comfortably off, it must have been a hellhole to live in, and Dickens puts that on the page. We've tried to get that into our story, hence the inclusion of the two terrible children, Want and Ignorance, who are often left out of other versions of `A Christmas Carol.' ''

Stewart referred to the two scrawny waifs who come from beneath the robes of the Ghost of Christmas Present, symbolizing the plight of many of London's children, including the family of Scrooge's employee, Bob Crachit.

For Stewart, filming that scene left an indelible memory.

``I was shocked the first time I saw them,'' he recalled. ``It was a late afternoon at the Royal Dockyard by the River Thames, and it was cold, and they were barefoot and wearing the skimpiest of garments. It was just awful. Of course, we took good care of them, and they were wrapped up warm and had hot water bottles the minute the camera stopped rolling, and parkas to wear, but it was very moving to have them there.''

Stewart, best known as Capt. Picard in the ``Star Trek: The Next Generation'' series and subsequent ``Trek'' movies, played more than 40 characters in his one-man production of ``A Christmas Carol'' (even he couldn't pin down the exact number), so playing Scrooge alone was a bit of a break - as well as an exercise in self-restraint.

``Saskia Reeves, who played Mrs. Crachit, did accuse me at one moment of mouthing her lines,'' Stewart said. ``I always loved playing Mrs. Crachit. She was one of my favorites, so I may have been guilty of that. It was curious, though. After all those years of refining that dialogue, in the very beginning it took a little work getting used to hearing it come out of other actors' mouths.''

Stewart has not yet decided when and if he will perform the solo play again, but he is leaving the door open.

``I have a feeling that my relationship with Ebenezer Scrooge is not over yet,'' he said. ``A friend of mine, in fact the actor who plays Jacob Marley (Bernard Lloyd), said, `Patrick, you'll go on playing `Christmas Carol' until you've expunged the Scrooge in your own soul.' ''

Does Stewart agree with his friend? ``Yep. It's always pleasing when theater is therapy.''

At the close of 1999, the U.S. economy has been steadily strong for years, unemployment is low, and it is possible that people will settle in to watch ``A Christmas Carol'' after a day spending huge sums of money at the local mall. Even in those circumstances, Stewart believes viewers can be touched by the Dickens tale.

``In addition to enjoying the story, I hope that it might make them think that the world looks pretty good for the moment to most people, but not to all people,'' he said. ``Only this morning, we read about the phenomenal number of people without health insurance. Too many people are living below the poverty line. Too many children are without adequate education.

``I think what Dickens is saying in this story is `Pay attention.' What Scrooge does is let people back into his life, and what he finds is that he gets back much more than he gives.''

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Photo: Patrick Stewart, who has refined Ebenezer Scrooge in his one-man show, plays the miser tonight on TNT's ``A Christmas Carol.''