A New Scrooge. A New Story.
I wrote my first stage adaptation of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol when I was nineteen. Fourteen years later, the adaptation I wrote in my Long Island bedroom would make it to the stage here in North Carolina.
When I opened Legacy's Act One in 2011, I knew our first Christmas production would be A Christmas Carol. Legacy Theater Company produced various adaptations of Dickens' classic work for six seasons.
And this year, we are coming back with a new and powerful adaptation; one that has never been seen on our stage . . . or many others for that matter.
The story of redemption draws me to A Christmas Carol year after year. In all of us lies a "Scrooge." We all have a part of ourselves that is bitter, selfish, and uncaring. For reasons unknown to me, we often see more "Scrooges" at Christmas than at any other time of the year. I guess it's because greed and selfishness take hold of us, and this bitter second self comes to the front of the stage, determined to have his spotlight.
But as Charles Dickens shows us, this year, at this moment, it is not too late to change. When the Spirits visit Scrooge, they remind him of his past, make him look at the present, and, if his life remains unaltered, he finds a very bleak future. Scrooge heeds the words of the Spirits, and his life is redeemed. He vows to keep the principles of Christmas (love, joy, generosity, peace, and goodwill) in his heart and to keep them all year. He lives in the past to heal from life's pain, in the present, to notice the ache of his fellowman, and in the future, where he can continue to change to be a better man.
Scrooge is redeemed.
And year after year, as I produce A Christmas Carol, I remember that my redemption is possible. I can be a better woman today than yesterday as long as I listen to The Spirit and His guiding voice inside.
A look at six seasons of A Christmas Carol at Legacy Theater Company.
As I was preparing to write A Christmas Carol this year, I began to write a new adaptation of the classic story, but it just didn't feel right. I put the work aside until we closed Nunsense figuring I'd be more inspired after the close of our first musical of Act Two.
I wasn't.
In fact, as audition forms started to come in, I was more confused about the direction A Christmas Carol should take. I wanted to do something different, with a new life and passion, a new story, and new lessons to learn.
And then it hit me.
After much prayer,
numerous talks with our creative team,
a great conversation with James Hose, who played Scrooge at Legacy for six seasons,
doubts,
fears,
excitement,
more prayer,
and renewed vigor, we decided what needed to happen.
I wrote our new production of A Christmas Carol in two days. What felt like a heavy burden for months was instantly lightened when I made the change; A change our current cast says is our "best version to date and probably the best one I've seen."
This year, I am excited to announce that I will play Scrooge in this new adaptation of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol.
THE MAKING OF A FEMALE SCROOGE
Making Scrooge a female character had me excited and a bit nervous. So how do you take the iconic Ebenezer Scrooge and turn the role into a female role? I did some research . . .
It turns out there have been many adaptations for stage and screen that include a female Scrooge, but most fall into one of three categories:
Ebenezer Scrooge is played as a man by a female actress. In the opera world, we call this a "pants role."
The writer alters the story to make a "Sophia Scrooge" or an "Elizabeth Scrooge" and retells the story. More often than not, a political agenda is involved, and the story becomes very feminist-focused. Regardless of your political leanings, it is hard to listen to a two-hour feminist speech shadowed in the story of A Christmas Carol. In my opinion, it kind of takes away a bit of the magic.
The story is made into a modern-Hallmark-Christmas-Movie style story that is sappy, romantic, and has us feeling a bit like the point of the story is lost.
I went away from my research feeling a bit crushed. Is that what female roles have become? Is that what you get when you see female characters? Either you play a man, have to have a political agenda, or are seen as a sappy romantic woman who can't fulfill her dreams without a man sweeping her off her feet in a little village in snowy Colorado!
So I returned to the original story and read A Christmas Carol through a woman's eyes, and it all clicked. It all made sense. The mastery of Charles Dickens work is, as I said above, there is Scrooge in all of us. We can all relate to Ebenezer's story regardless of gender, race, cultural background, or economic status. The story didn't need to be changed. It just needed a breath of new life for this modern age.
WHERE IS EBENEZER?
Friends, I am honored to be chosen to play the role of FAN SCROOGE our upcoming production of
A Christmas Carol.
You may be asking, who is Fan?
What happened to Ebenezer?
Are there still ghosts?
I will say this . . .
All the ghosts are there.
The Cratchit family is there.
Tiny Tim still shouts to us all, "God Bless us, Everyone."
The Fezziwigs still have the grandest ball of them all,
and Jacob Marley takes on a brand new role in our adaptation.
All of the classic characters are included in this adaptation. But how does this story come to be? What happened to Ebeneezer? Well, for those answers, you need to come to see the show, as writing it in this post will lose the magic.
A Christmas Carol opens on December 2, 2022, at Legacy Theater Company and runs from December 2-11. Friday and Saturday at 7:00pm and Sunday at 4:00pm. Tickets are on sale and are selling quickly, so grab yours today.
I can't wait to see you at this show to continue the legacy of a Christmas Carol at Legacy Theater Company, but this time with a fresh new take on the classic tale. For more information, CLICK HERE.
We can’t wait to see you at this years CHRISTMAS CAROL.
Grab your tickets and spread the word. It’s going to be spectacular!
