A Christmas Carol
Opening Night: November 20, 2019
Closing: January 5, 2020
Theater: Lyceum Theatre
The holiday masterpiece, A CHRISTMAS CAROL, is bringing joy to Broadway following critically acclaimed runs at London’s Old Vic. Three visionary Tony Award® winners — playwright Jack Thorne (Harry Potter and the Cursed Child), director Matthew Warchus (Matilda) and set and costume designer Rob Howell (The Ferryman) — offer a magical new interpretation of Charles Dickens’ beloved story. Time Out raves, “Five stars. It’s a stunning piece of visual theatre.” Starring Campbell Scott (“House of Cards”) and Tony Award winners Andrea Martin (Pippin) and LaChanze (The Color Purple), this timeless and timely tale of redemption welcomes theatergoers of all ages into an immersive experience that’s brimming with Christmas spirit. It’s “a loving, powerful adaptation” (The Stage) that features dazzling staging, moving storytelling and 12 cherished Christmas carols, including “Joy to the World,” “Silent Night” and “It Came Upon the Midnight Clear.” Don’t miss your chance to be part of a show that’s so “joyful and heartwarming, not even Scrooge himself could dislike it!” (The Telegraph).
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November 20, 2019
Those expecting a traditional take on Charles Dickens’ classic holiday perennial may be in for a shock at the new Broadway version of “A Christmas Carol.” Or at least they might be terribly perplexed by this dour production, whose additions only subtract from the potency of the transformative tale. While there have been many adaptations — from solo shows to musicals to ghostly imaginings — most stick pretty close to the storyline and character arc of the tightly crafted original. But this import from London’s Old Vic — here starring Campbell Scott — would certainly have Dickens scratching his noggin.
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November 20, 2019
There’s an abundance of treats offered by director Matthew Warchus’ staging of A Christmas Carol – like Andrea Martin dressed as a Victorian caroler mingling with the audience at Broadway Lyceum Theatre, handing out Clementines and cookies before curtain – but perhaps the best is the revelation that the Dickens chestnut can still inspire such a vibrant, compassionate and timely telling. Adapted by playwright Jack Thorne (Harry Potter and the Cursed Child), and starring Campbell Scott as Scrooge, Martin and LaChanze as the Ghosts of Christmas Past and Present, respectively, this Carol (with different casts) has become something of a holiday tradition at London’s Old Vic. Broadway should be so lucky.
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November 20, 2019
If you want to see a stage version of Charles Dickens’s holiday ghost story A Christmas Carol in New York this year, you are—like you are every year—in luck. As always, there are plenty to choose from: a candlelit reading at the Merchant House, an uptown update at the Classical Theatre of Harlem, a marionette show down at La MaMa. Or you could opt for the large, classy, rather gloomy production at the Lyceum, adapted by Jack Thorne and directed by Matthew Warchus. The look of the show is attractively dark. Dozens and dozens of lanterns hang on chains from the ceiling, with more of them piled in the two back corners of Rob Howell’s cross-shaped set; four skeletal doors tilt up from the floor to create the suggestion of walls; the moneylending office of the miserly Ebenezer Scrooge (Campbell Scott) consists of boxes that he neatly slots into the ground. A small group of live musicians is augmented by an ensemble that divvies up the narration, sings carols and, in the show’s prettiest touch, creates a chorus of handheld bells.
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November 20, 2019
Have any of the progressive presidential hopefuls still duking it out thought about working “A Christmas Carol” into their campaigns? If so, they would surely benefit from visiting the new, charmingly instructive adaptation of Charles Dickens’s evergreen of Yuletide redemption, which opened Wednesday at the Lyceum Theater. As reconceived by the playwright Jack Thorne and the director Matthew Warchus, this sprightly version of Dickens’s deathless portrait of a miser makes a pointed case for the personal benefits of redistributing wealth. God rest ye merry, fat cats: Shedding some of that cumbersome, excess cash is a surefire route to feeling good about yourself.
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November 20, 2019
Every year around the holidays, adaptations of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol surface like regurgitated eggnog at regional theaters across the country. But Jack Thorne’s retelling breathes new life into the old chestnut, creating an enchanting spectacle that really is something special. Staged with an ideal balance of sentiment and showmanship by Matthew Warchus and first seen in 2017 at London’s Old Vic, where he is artistic director, the immersive production is infused with period atmosphere and heart-stirring music, fostering an infectious spirit of good cheer that reaches giddy heights with the movable feast of the play’s climax. Led by Campbell Scott in excellent form as the miserly Scrooge, this Broadway transfer raises the bar for seasonal stage comfort food. The collective embrace of the experience is extended even before the show gets under way, with ensemble members in topcoats and tall hats chatting with the audience while handing out cookies and clementines (“Like oranges, but British,” one of them quipped) as a musical quartet of strings and accordion plays on the stage.
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