This is Part II of McCarter’s Guide to Holiday Gift-Giving. Click here for Part I.

Princeton Parking Smartcard: Have trouble parking when you come to McCarter? Pick up one of these Smartcards from the Borough of Princeton and you’ll never need to fumble for quarters again. Simply slide it into any Borough parking meter, and your parking fee is automatically deducted from the card. If you want to leave early, slide the card again to get your excess fee refunded. Pick up a card (minimum initial charge - $20) at the Spring Street Municipal Parking Garage or at Borough Hall. Or, go all out and donate $2,500 to McCarter to receive a coned off parking spot in the Parking Circle for one performance.

The Riverside Shakespeare: If your child is thinking about enrolling in Summer Shakespeare this year at McCarter, you’ll definitely wanna start brushing up. Pick up a copy of “The Riverside Shakespeare” from Amazon.com for only $87.80, and you’ll be a pro in no time at all. While it may be pricier than other editions, it is by far the best (trust me, I was a Renaissance and Early Modern Studies Major in college, and wrote my honors thesis on performance practices in the Lord Chamberlain’s/King’s Men between 1594-1613). Riverside’s notes are superb, and their introductory essays are insightful.

A Time Share in the Hamptons: Really, there’s only one way to get in the mood for Emily Mann’s A Seagull in the Hamptons. Book yourself a weekend in this 10-bedroom, 5,000+ square foot estate with a Tiki bar, basketball court, pool, volleyball court and tennis court. They don’t seem to list any prices on their website (can’t imagine why), but there is a link to e-mail them for more information on the site.

Mario Kart for the Nintendo Wii: Okay, technically this one has nothing to do with McCarter…. But I want it SOOOOO bad!!! Look at this awesome video, how fun is that gonna be!?! I mean, come on, dude!! It comes out in the first quarter of next year. Online Multi-Player Battle Mode! Wahoo!!!!

Itzhak Perlman: Live in the Fiddler’s House: Okay, it’s too late for Hannukah, but with an IN-Festival production of Yehuda Hyman’s The Mad 7 coming up, and with an upcoming McCarter visit from Itzhak Perlman, this seems like the perfect time to buy this CD. Itzhak is joined by the Klezmatics and the Klezmer Conservatory Band in this vibrant, live recording. Buy it from Amazon.com for $9.97.

A McCarter Gift Certificate: Of course, if you’ve got that picky step-uncle who is impossible to shop for, best thing to do is to buy him a gift certificate. With over 200 world-class performances a year, McCarter is sure to have something to please even the most difficult. Buy one for any dollar amount from McCarter Online, or call the McCarter box office at 609-258-ARTS.

I hope you enjoyed this Holiday gift-guide. Let us know what you think by posting a comment in the “comments” link below.

Posted by Adam Immerwahr, Producing Associate at McCarter Theatre.

Original photo by Carol Rosegg

Last Friday was the Meet and Greet and first rehearsal of Me, Myself & I. Edward Albee was in attendance, which got pretty much the whole McCarter staff out of their offices for the event. The Meet and Greet is the time at the beginning of each rehearsal process when the entire staff of the theater comes together along with the actors, designers, director, etc. to eat bagels and mingle and introduce themselves. (Most theaters do this. I am relatively certain that regional theater, as an institution, is responsible for, at minimum, fully half the national bagel consumption.) And then Emily Mann makes a speech, and the playwright and director and designers all say a few words about the upcoming production. It’s always very fun and informative.

So Emily’s speech to introduce Me, Myself & I began with a discussion of the presence of twins in the play. She had Edward read, aloud, a monologue from his play American Dream, in which a young man who was separated from his identical twin at birth talks about the loss he has suffered as a result. She talked about the fact that Edward, who was adopted as a baby, had always vaguely wondered whether he might have a twin of his own out there somewhere. And then she announced that “our literary intern, Elizabeth Edwards, has taken on the project of finding Edward Albee’s long-lost twin by opening night” (which was something I had mentioned as a great dramaturgical project at the company holiday party the other night). Edward, who always has a clever quip at hand no matter what random statement you fling at him (which is part of what makes his plays so enjoyable despite the ways they tend to skewer all the tenderest sore spots of humanity), immediately responded, deadpan as always: “Well, she’d better take a shovel.”

Posted by Elizabeth Edwards, Literary Intern at McCarter Theatre.

Having trouble figuring out what to buy for that discerning McCarter patron in your life? Trying to get something for a theater employee? I’m stealing an idea from one of my favorite dishy theater blogs, and sharing with you my list of McCarter’s Guide to Holiday Gift-Giving, perfect for this yuletide season.

The August Wilson Century Cycle: For the patron who loved McCarter’s productions of Gem of the Ocean and Radio Golf, this boxed set is a must-have. This newly published item collects, for the first time, all ten of the plays in August Wilson’s masterful cycle of 20th century plays (each play is set in the Hill District of Pittsburgh, in a different decade). You can read chronologically, from Gem of the Ocean to Radio Golf, or you can read the plays in the order in which they were written. Either way, this is a gorgeous gift at a special introductory price of $200. Order it directly from Theater Communications Group, or buy it in person at the McCarter Store.

D’Aulaires’ Book of Greek Myths: Wanna brush up on your gods before you come to see Argonautika or participate in The Odyssey Experience? Need to figure out your Pallas from your Pelleas? Then you’ll definitely want to flip through D’Aulaires’. My father used to read aloud from this when my brother and I were kids, and the education has served me well. Buy it from Amazon.com for only $13.57.

Tickets to Striking 12: If you loved the music in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, you should definitely check out GrooveLily’s New Year’s Eve show, Striking 12, which runs at The Zipper Factory in NYC from December 27-31. Val, Brendan, and Gene are back in their beautiful modern-day version of Hans Christian Anderson’s “The Little Match-Girl.” Tickets are $35 each at The Zipper Factory. Or, you can go low-budget and pick up the CD of A Midsummer Night’s Dream for $14.95 from PS Classics.

The Very Best of Burt Bacharach: Are you planning on attending the McCarter Gala Benefit this year? If so, you’ll definitely want to listen to this CD to get in the mood for the live performance by headliner Burt Bacharach. Listen to him croon his greatest hits, and get yourself into a Holiday mood. Buy it online from Amazon.com for only $10.99.

The Collected Plays of Edward Albee: If you adored The Zoo Story and loved Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, you’ll definitely want to snuggle up by the fireplace with this three-volume edition of Albee’s collected works. What warms the soul better than a mug of eggnog and a set of comedies about talking lizards, imagined children and seductive goats? Get yourself in the mood for Me, Myself & I and by buying all three books from Overlook Press for only $125.

Part II of McCarter’s Guide to Holiday Gift-Giving will be coming shortly. Stay tuned!

Posted by Adam Immerwahr, Producing Associate at McCarter Theatre.

Every year, McCarter presents A Christmas Carol, and while lots of things change with a new cast and a fresh rehearsal process, some things are constant. The quiz below tests your attention to those unchanging minutae.

Answer the following 10 questions as best you can, and e-mail your answers to literary@mccarter.org. The first person to answer all 10 questions correctly (or the person who has answered the most questions correctly by January 1, 2009) will win two free tickets to see James Naughton’s late-nite cabaret concert on March 21. See end of post for contest details.

1. In the Christmas Past sequence, Scrooge’s older sister, Fan, sneaks out of her job at the mill to give Scrooge a present.What is that present?

2. What is the name of Scrooge’s business?

3. Which character in this production of A Christmas Carol says only one word?

4. How much money does Mr. Fezziwig give to young Marley and young Scrooge as a Christmas gift?

5. In this production of A Christmas Carol, we meet three of Scrooge’s employees. Who are they?

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Photo by Marisol Rosa-Shapiro

This past Saturday McCarter Theatre and Princeton University co-hosted a political theater event on the Princeton campus. The event centered around a reading of Returns, a play by former soldier-turned-conscientious objector Joshua Casteel. The play deals with Joshua’s experiences as an interrogator at Abu Ghraib, along with the disconcerting effects of post-traumatic stress disorder. David Gothard of the Abbey Theatre flew in from England to direct the piece, which was completely sold out several days in advance. After the reading, a discussion was led by Michael Cadden (Director of the Princeton University Program in Theatre and Dance) with panelists Emily Mann, Joshua Casteel, and David Gothard, along with Nadine Strossen, President of the ACLU. That evening there was also a performance of Ariel Dorfman’s Death and the Maiden.

The entire political theater event was quite thought-provoking, and as always, there was far more discussion to be had than there was time in which to have it. We encourage any who attended to continue the conversation here on our blog with our new easy-to-post comment system. If you missed out this weekend and would like to be notified about future such events, shoot an e-mail to literary@mccarter.org and we’ll put you on our mailing list.

Posted by Elizabeth Edwards, Literary Intern at McCarter Theatre. Photo (l to r): Scott Cagney, Artem Yatsunov, Nikhil Vaid, and Joshua Casteel in McCarter Theater’s reading of Returns.

Princeton News Network just posted a video interview with A Christmas Carol director Michael Unger and this year’s Ebenezer Scrooge, James A. Stephens. The video includes some neat video clips from the show itself, and also a great explanation from Unger about some of the concepts that shaped the design of the production. I highly recommend that you watch it!

Posted by Adam Immerwahr, Producing Associate at McCarter Theatre.

So I don’t often tell you about the presented side of McCarter, but I thought it was time to start shaking things up. As many of you know, McCarter is one of the few theaters in the country that is both a producing regional theater and also a “road house” for a full season of presented events (such as classical music, dance, jazz, cabaret, and rock concerts). I don’t get very involved in the presented events, so I don’t usually have much to say about them, but they are a very important part of what McCarter does. The specials are programmed by Bill Lockwood, who is in his 50th season at McCarter, or something wild like that. More on him soon…

On Friday, we’ve got The Robert Glasper Trio coming in for a concert in the Berlind. Should be pretty great. Glasper himself (who you can see in the YouTube vid below) is a 27-year-old pianist, composer and bandleader. Definitely an emerging artist to watch, and if you come on Friday, you can hear his unique blend of jazz and hip-hop. Hope to see you there!

Posted by Adam Immerwahr, Producing Associate at McCarter Theatre.

Photo by T. Charles Erickson

The reviews for this year’s A Christmas Carol are starting to come in, and I must say they are positively glowing.

Here is my favorite line from Peter Filichia’s rave in the Star-Ledger this morning: “Stephens’ face is so fierce that one wonders if those mutton-chops he wears were just fleeced from a lamb whose throat he cut this morning.” Sometimes when you read a review, you can just tell that the critic had a lot of fun writing it… Filichia writes that Kathy Fitzgerald is “effervescent as a 19th-century party-animal” and the production remains “the most opulent show New Jersey sees all year.”

So what did you think? Post a “citizen review” of this year’s production of A Christmas Carol by clicking on the “comments” link below. We’d love to hear your thoughts!

Posted by Adam Immerwahr, Producing Associate at McCarter Theatre. Photo: James A. Stephens as “Ebenezer Scrooge” in McCarter’s production of A Christmas Carol.

Photo by T. Charles Erickson

As you may have read in my previous post, we have a new Scrooge this year. Well, turns out that James A. Stephens is a wee bit more athletic than we are used to in a Scrooge. So we ordered him a special flying harness for the flying scene, and he and director Michael Unger worked out a few more air maneuvers for Scrooge in Act II. They’re really impressive.

The picture at left was snapped during our dress rehearsal. The woman on the right is Ronica Reddick, who plays Christmas Present. The blur on the left is James A. Stephens. You will note that he is upside down. And backwards. Fancy, huh?

The flying in McCarter’s A Christmas Carol is done with the expertise and supervision of Flying by Foy, the premier theatrical flying company in the nation. They were founded in 1950 for a production of Peter Pan (the non-musical version) on Broadway, but became famous for flying Mary Martin in the 1954 musicalized Peter Pan. And they’ve been flying people in every production of Peter Pan since. Every year, they come to McCarter and set up their flying rig, which involves motors, pulleys, and all sorts of other shenanigans. This year we’re trying out a new harness for Scrooge, which allows for some slightly fancier tricks. Let us know what you think by clicking on the “Comment” link below!

Posted by Adam Immerwahr, Producing Associate at McCarter Theatre.

Photo by T. Charles Erickson

Well, we’ve made it through week one of the notorious Christmas Carol student matinee extravaganza. While for most of the other main stage productions we have one or two student matinees, for A Christmas Carol we have three weeks’ worth—and in the Matthews Theatre, with pretty much all 1,100 seats filled for each performance, that’s a whole lot of students filing in and out of McCarter.

The massive organizational process that is involved with receiving more than 20 busses, unloading over a thousand students, and getting them all into their seats to get the show started on time, not to mention getting them all out of the theater and into their correct busses again once the show is over, is facilitated by the interns and organized by McCarter’s super-fabulous Education Department. But the secret we learned this week is that leading post-show discussions and organizing playwriting workshops is nowhere near the extent of the Education Department’s skills and abilities. Apparently they also have the capacity to…

CONTROL THE WEATHER!!!

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