Introduction
Since Charles Dickens A Christmas Carol first appeared in 1843, it has become so popular that is hard to imagine Christmas without it. The story immediately inspired theatrical adaptations (the first just a few months after its publication), and since then has been produced at theaters around the world in hundreds of different forms, and inspired films, cartoons and television programs.
A Christmas Carol is a McCarter tradition. It has been produced every year since 1980, when then-artistic director Nagle Jackson brought his adaptation to McCarter. The current adaptation by David Thompson was first produced at McCarter in 1991 under the direction of Scott Ellis. In 2000 Thompson revised his adaptation and a new production was created under the direction of Michael Unger. Thompson’s adaptation remains faithful to much of the language and all of the spirit of Dickens’s story, and in our production, we strive to capture both the injustice and struggles of Victorian life, and the joy and redemption of the holiday season.
