Lt. Jonathan Pohnel as Scrooge, with John King as Tiny Tim in 2006.

His show is Scrooge: A Christmas Carol, and it will be presented the first weekend of December at the Base Theater. The entire amount raised by the show — every cent — goes toward buying holiday food baskets for junior Sailors and Marines at Pax River.

And the expenses? They come out of Pohnel’s pocket. ‘‘I pay for the entire production and all the advertising, which usually comes to about $1,500, which I budget through the year,” he said. ‘‘We work with a local grocery store (still to be selected), and buy certificates good for buying a turkey, vegetables, dessert and so on — everything you need for Christmas dinner.”

The certificates will be distributed through Navy-Marine Corps Relief at Pax River. ‘‘We don’t make up the baskets because it’s too hard to keep them refrigerated,” Pohnel said. ‘‘They’ll get the certificates and be able to walk into the store and buy Christmas dinner.”

Depending on attendance at the show, Scrooge is usually able to buy dinner for 70-80 families.

This is actually the fourth time Pohnel has put on the show during his career, and this will be the third time on a Navy base. Previous productions have been at Jacksonville and Whidbey Island, although its genesis was at a church pot luck social in Corpus Christi, Texas.

‘‘The pastor knew I was a former Marine bandsman and said, ‘We have nothing for Christmas; do you have any ideas?’ Then he looked down at his shirt, scraped something off his shirt and said, ‘Must have been a spot of mustard,’” said Pohnel.

What popped into Pohnel’s mind was a quote that has been in nearly every movie that tells the famous story (even the Muppet version): Scrooge tells Marley’s Ghost, ‘‘You may be an undigested bit of beef, a blot of mustard, a crumb of cheese. There’s more of gravy than of grave about you.” Pohnel: ‘‘So I said he should do Charles Dickens. Everybody loves live theater.”

Scrooge, and something of an obsession, was born, but at least Pohnel had the background for it. After graduating from high school in 1989, he served four years in Marine Corps bands, playing around the world for notables that included President George H.W. Bush, Princess Diana and Queen Elizabeth.

After leaving the Marines, he became a professional actor in Nashville, doing commercials (including two for the Armed Forces Network) and videos for, among others, Tammy Wynette. He had a deadline, though: If fame and fortune didn’t arrive by the time he was 27, that was it for acting.

Fame never arrived. What did was a degree from the University of Tennessee in Chattanooga. ‘‘I was also tired of pretending to be somebody,” Pohnel said. ‘‘I wanted to actually be somebody.”

He joined the Navy in 2002, receiving his commission through Officer Candidate School and pilot’s wings at Pensacola. By December 2003 he was in Corpus Christi.

In July 2008 he arrived at Pax River, where he is a P-3 aircraft commander assigned to VXS-1. He is also working on his master’s degree in military history from Norwich University in Connecticut.

In addition to writing Scrooge, he is also the orchestra. Through the magic of overdubbing, Pohnel and his synthesizer created the entire taped accompaniment for the singers. ‘‘I lay down the piano track first, then the strings, then the drums, then the brass and woodwinds,” he said. ‘‘It is tons of work to do a track. When I do one, I plan on 12 hours.”

The sets belong to him as well. ‘‘When I move, the sets move with me because I didn’t want to build and paint them all over again,” said Pohnel.

Oh yes, he also plays the title role and directs the production.

Theater is a collaborative art, however, and nobody can do everything. Besides, what good is Scrooge if there’s no Bob Cratchit? No Tiny Tim? No Fezziwig?

What matter Scrooge if you have no ghosts?

‘‘We have a full cast of 25, and sometimes I can’t believe how it happens,” Pohnel stated. ‘‘We held auditions and cast most of the roles, and the rest just fell into place. We’ve got some quality people.”

Some of those don’t have to put on a British accent for the show, because they are British, including the two men playing Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson.

Holmes and Watson? ‘‘I added them in as a narrative device,” said Pohnel. ‘‘They open the show, discussing how Ebenezer Scrooge is a cold man, hard and sharp as flint — which is right out of the book. They also have scenes while we do set changes.”

While Pohnel takes leave during the week of the show, there is much work to be done before then, and he is not always there to do it. Even if he were, doing it all himself would be impossible.

His wife, Erica, ‘‘works side by side helping me on this production,” and assistant director Jeannie Facemire ‘‘has done a lot of the behind-the-scenes work. She has done a lot of the groundwork,” said Pohnel. Both are in the show as well, as is Pohnel’s four-year old son.

‘‘I’m constantly deploying as a naval aviator in support of science and technology,” said Pohnel. ‘‘I’ll be out of town during part of this month, so Erica and Jeannie will pick up the load.”

But the show will go on, and Pohnel will get to say as Scrooge, ‘‘What’s Christmastime but a time of paying bills, a time of finding yourself a year older but not an hour richer? If I could have my way, every idiot who goes around with Christmas on his lips should be boiled in his own pudding and buried with a stake of holly in his heart!” Only Dickens could put it that way.

By the end, though, Scrooge does learn the meaning of Christmas. As Dickens wrote, ‘‘It was always said of him, that he knew how to keep Christmas well.”

Said Pohnel, ‘‘The story of Scrooge reminds us that a life driven by greed, wealth and self-success leaves one to an empty life without kinship and friendship.”

Scrooge will keep Christmas well in a second way. For all three performances, the Pax River Marine Aviation Detachment will be on hand collecting toys for their annual Toys for Tots campaign.

Performances will be Friday and Saturday, Dec. 4-5 at 6 p.m. Friday’s performance will be followed by the Pax River tree lighting ceremony and the arrival of Santa. Sunday’s performance will be a 2:30 p.m. matinee. Tickets are $5 for adults and $2 for children ages 5-12. Children under 12 are free but will need to have a ticket to insure the performances are not overbooked. The Base Theater seats 400, meaning there will be a total of only 1,200 tickets available for the three performances..

Tickets are available at Maximum Health and Fitness in California, Md., and from the following ticket agents: at Pax River — Jeannie Facemire (301-342-0090), Debbie Sztubinski (301-342-0063), Margelynn Massey (301-757-6451) and Nancy Alley (301-342-2038); and Webster Field — Bonnie Lumpkins (301-995-8130) and Bridget Helm (301-995-6160). They will also be available at the gate on performance nights if the show is not sold out. Visit www.scroogepax2009.yolasite.com for more information.