By Geri Silk
Want to have some good clean literary fun during your Christmas season?
A fascinating stage version of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol is playing at the Bickford Theatre in Morris Township through Dec. 28, 2014.
This multi-level production is the work of Paul Meacham, who has adapted the play from the original 1884 text by Charles Dickens.
Oh yes—Meacham also directs the production and stars as Ebenezer Scrooge, the desperate curmudgeon who is transformed into a philanthropic prince.
Before you go, I would advise you to brush up on your Dickens by reading the Cliff Notes, seeing one of the many excellent film versions, or at least giving it a tumble on Wikipedia.
Why:
The production is not so much a play as a very three-dimensional Readers Theater version of the text.
That is, if you close your eyes and just listen to the words, you can feel Dickens’ original version vividly wafting through to your brain’s universality and consciousness.
You don’t even need to see all the action—because Meachum has taken the storyline and re-assembled it a bit, so that the intellectuality, morality, and poetry of the original text still shines through.
The actors play many parts using many different voices and English lilts. The three dimensional set is built by All Access Staging and Productions of Newton.
Our local technical director, Lewis Perlmutter, handles the light and sound and creates a warm cozy atmosphere for the actors to play in.
The costumes are historical, and the actors’ voices are trained beautifully, so they project into the 440-seat house.
This is not a play—as the Bickford recently hosted Oklahoma and West Side Story by other touring companies. It is a literary sugar plum for you to ponder with relish.
The entire production was rehearsed at the Bickford.
Will kids like it? Probably; there is some humor and a few commedia pratfalls.
But the play focuses on the heart of Ebenezer Scrooge—who is both naughty and nice.
And maybe this time of year we should think about that.
Certainly, I would recommend this play to Morris County Book Clubs who wish to start a traditional of holiday field trips away from the NY Times Best Seller List and go to the Dickens.
And then go drink some wassail.
Show dates and times are here. Tickets for Friday and Saturday evenings and Sunday Matinee are $28 for the General Public, $25 Members/Seniors and $20 for Students. For Saturday Matinee: $23 General Public, $20 Members/Seniors, $18 Students (18 & under). The Bickford is at the Morris Museum, 6 Normandy Heights Road. Call 973-971-3706 for more details.
