49 days to Christmas… Carol
Posted by Adam Immerwahr on October 19th, 2007 Photo by T. Charles Erickson |
Yes, it is true. We are only 49 days away from the opening night of A Christmas Carol. This year should prove to be a particularly thrilling and exciting one for A Christmas Carol. We’ve still got the glorious Ming Cho Lee sets (although it definitely seems like the sets are looking a bit lopsided lately…), the athletic Rob Ashford choreography and the gorgeous Jess Goldstein costumes, but this season’s production has also got a really jazzy and fresh addition: a new Scrooge.
You may remember James A. Stephens from his nuanced turn as Petey, the cornflake-eating boarding house proprietor in last season’s production of The Birthday Party. Well, he has just agreed to be this year’s Ebeneezer Scrooge in McCarter’s production of A Christmas Carol (yes, you heard it here, on the blog, first). This seasoned theatrical veteran is really cool, and we are all totally excited to see his fresh take on this mammoth part.
I have always loved A Christmas Carol. It is such a wonderfully simple story: faced with a set of spirits who show him his past, present, and future, curmudgeonly Ebeneezer Scrooge discovers that the only obstacles to his happiness are his own actions, and–as a result of this realization–Scrooge decides to treat others with kindness. To me, the spareness of this story is what makes A Christmas Carol so robust and moving every year. This is a big, important story with a huge heart, which Dickens tells with an extraordinary clarity and precision. I, for one, can’t wait to see what James makes of it!
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Posted by Adam Immerwahr, Producing Associate at McCarter Theatre. Photo: James A. Stephens and Barbara Bryne in McCarter Theatre’s production of The Birthday Party.
