BAH-HUMBUG! A CHRISTMAS CAROL BEGINS NOVEMBER 21

BAH-HUMBUG! A CHRISTMAS CAROL BEGINS NOVEMBER 21

 

***CHICAGO’S PREMIER HOLIDAY TRADITION RETURNS TO THE GOODMAN FOR

ITS 31^ST YEAR, DIRECTED BY WILLIAM BROWN WITH Larry Yando AS SCROOGE***

 

Consistently included among the Midwest’s top-tier holiday events, Goodman Theatre’s annual production of A Christmas Carol returns for its 31^st season. Guided by sixteen years of experience with the production, Chicago actor/director William Brown returns to direct Tom Creamer’s adaptation of Charles Dickens’ 1843 novella for his third consecutive year. Renowned Chicago actor Larry Yando plays Scrooge, following a critically acclaimed 30^th Anniversary production debut in the role, and Ryan Cowhey (Elmhurst) returns for a third season as Tiny Tim. Also new to their roles this season are Major Curda (Wilmette) as Turkey Boy; brother and sister Matt and Caroline Heffernan (Chicago) as Boy Scrooge and Emily Cratchit; Laney Kraus-Taddeo (Park Ridge) as Belinda Cratchit; Monét Butler (Chicago) as Abbey; Tim Gittings (Chicago) as Topper, Lucy Godinez (Evanston) as Martha Cratchit; Anish Jethmalani (Chicago) as the Ghost of Jacob Marley; Matt Schwader (Chicago) as Fred; Bret Tuomi (Chicago) as Mr. Fezziwig; and Penelope Walker (Chicago) as the Ghost of Christmas Present. A Christmas Carol performances begin November 21 (opening night is November 30) and run through December 31 in the Goodman’s Albert Theatre. A complete performance schedule including dates, times and ticket prices appears at the end of this release. Harris Bank is the Major Corporate Sponsor and Aon Corporation and KPMG LLP are Corporate Sponsor Partners.

“Over the course of more than three decades, A Christmas Carol has had an astonishing impact on Chicago,” said Executive Director Roche Schulfer, who was instrumental in initiating the production at the Goodman 31 years ago. “Not only has the production served as the entry point to theater for legions of young people, it has become an annual tradition for thousands of families. We are very proud to consistently deliver the premier holiday theatrical offering in our region—a first-rate, glorious production that has touched the lives of so many Chicagoans.”

Throughout its history at the Goodman, over 1 million people have experienced A Christmas Carol—“a joyous present for the entire family” (Chicago Sun-Times), “year after year…the crown jewel of the holiday season” (Daily Herald), “the best show to get at the true meaning of Christmas” (SouthtownStar) and “ideal family fare, both heartwarming and spectacular in its familiar tale” (Chicago Tribune). Over the years the show has hosted six directors, seven Scrooges, 27 Tiny Tims, and nearly 20,000 “Bah-Humbug!”s. A Christmas Carol is the tale of the miserly Ebenezer Scrooge, who is opposed to holiday cheer and indifferent to the sufferings of the poor in Victorian London. Scrooge is visited by four ghosts who offer him the opportunity to sympathize with his fellow man. Dickens’ famous characters include Scrooge’s kind-hearted clerk, Bob Cratchit, and his family, including Tiny Tim; the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future; the merry-making Fezziwig couple; and the Ghost of Jacob Marley.

Director William Brown first appeared in A Christmas Carol in the late 1980s, when he portrayed Scrooge’s infectiously optimistic nephew Fred; from 2002-2005, he donned the whiskers of Scrooge and last season he directed the 30^th Anniversary production. Most recently Brown directed As You Like It at Writers’ Theatre, where he also has directed Another Part of the Forest, Our Town, Arms and the Man, Rocket to the Moon, Misalliance, The Glass Menagerie and Incident at Vichy. At American Players Theatre in Spring Green, Wisconsin, he has directed productions of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Night of the Iguana, The Matchmaker, Twelfth Night, The Cherry Orchard, Antony and Cleopatra, All’s Well That Ends Well and Shaw’s You Never Can Tell. At Northlight Theatre he has directed Lady Windermere’s Fan, The Chalk Garden and his own adaptation of She Stoops to Conquer. For TimeLine Theatre Company, he directed Steven Dietz’s Halcyon Days and Paragon Springs and Tennessee Williams’ Not About Nightingales. Brown is the associate artistic director of Montana Shakespeare in the Parks, where he most recently directed Heartbreak House. He has received a Jeff Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of Henry Kissinger in Nixon’s Nixon.

Since returning from a three-year run as Scar in the national tour of The Lion King, Larry Yando (Ebenezer Scrooge) has appeared in Nixon’s Nixon, Bach at Leipzig and As You Like It at Writers’ Theatre; The Two Noble Kinsmen and Cymbeline at Chicago Shakespeare Theater; and as Scrooge in the Goodman’s 30^th Anniversary production of A Christmas Carol. Other leading roles in Chicago include: Titus Andronicus at Defiant Theatre; The Tempest, Timon of Athens, All’s Well That Ends Well, King Lear, Henry IV, Parts 1 and 2, Antony and Cleopatra and Two Gentlemen of Verona at Chicago Shakespeare Theater; Travesties, An Ideal Husband, Ghosts, Electra, Measure for Measure, The Importance of Being Earnest and Travels with My Aunt at Court Theatre; Mother Courage at Steppenwolf Theatre Company; Rocket to the Moon at Writers’ Theatre; The Birthday Party and Eastern Standard at Apple Tree Theatre; and I Hate Hamlet and Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris at Royal George Theatre. Yando’s regional credits include Angels in America, Arcadia and Amadeus at Milwaukee Repertory Theater; Glengarry Glen Ross, Cloud Nine, Betrayal, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and Six Characters in Search of an Author at Indiana Repertory Theatre; and Burn This, I Hate Hamlet and Private Lives at Madison Repertory Theatre. Yando has taught advanced acting classes at The Theatre School at DePaul University, Northwestern University, Columbia College, Chicago Shakespeare Theater’s Classical Training Program and Act One Studio’s Conservatory Program, and he serves as a verse/text coach at Chicago Shakespeare Theater. Yando has been honored as Chicago magazine’s Best Actor in Chicago and received DePaul University’s prestigious Excellence in the Arts award.

 A Christmas Carol 2008 Cast and Crew

(*indicates a debut performance)

 

Ebenezer Scrooge…………………………………………………….              Larry Yando

Mr. Ortle…………………………………………………………………            William J. Norris

Miss Crumb…………………………………………………………….             Ann Joseph

Fred………………………………………………………………………           Matt Schwader *

Topper/Poulterer………………………………………………………..            Tim Gittings *

Ghost of Jacob Marley…………………………………………………             Anish Jethmalani *

Ghost of Christmas Past/Undertaker…………………………………            Steve Haggard

Ghost of Christmas Present……………………………………………           Penelope Walker

Ghost of Christmas Future……………………………………………..           Brendan Marshall-Rashid

Bob Cratchit……………………………………………………………..            Ron Rains

Mrs. Cratchit……………………………………………………………..           Karen Woditsch

Peter Cratchit……………………………………………………………           Matthew Heffernan

Belinda Cratchit………………………………………………………...                     Laney Kraus-Taddeo

Emily Cratchit/Want.……………………………………………………            Caroline Heffernan *

Martha Cratchit…………………………………………………………..           Lucy Godinez

Mr. Fezziwig/ Chestnut Seller .…………………………………………           Bret Tuomi

Mrs. Fezziwig/Philomena ………………………………………………           Sharon Sachs

Schoolmaster…………………………………………………………….          Kevin Theis

Scrooge as a Boy……………………………………………………….           Matthew Heffernan

Fan………………………………………………………………………..           Laney Kraus-Taddeo

Scrooge as a Young Man/Tree Seller…………………………………            Brendan Marshall-Rashid

Dick Wilkins……………………………………………………………..            Adam Poss

Turkey Boy/ Ignorance ………………………………………………..             Major Curda *

Tiny Tim………………………………………………………………….           Ryan Cowhey

Abby, Fred’s Wife/Mrs. Dilber…………………………………….......             Monét Butler *

Percy/Old Joe……………………………………………………………           Kevin Theis

Catherine…………………………………………………………………           Katie Jeep

 

Quartet of Musicians……………………………………………………            Justin Amolsch, (Horn/Mr. French), Gregory Hirte (Violin/Fiddle/Mr. Spinet), Bethany Jorgensen (Violin/Adelle) and Malcolm Ruhl (Accordian/Ruhl)

 

Set Designer……………………………………………………………..           Todd Rosenthal

Lighting Designer………………………………………………………..           Robert Christen

Costume Designer……………………………………………………....          Heidi Sue McMath

Sound Designer………………………………………………………....           Cecil Averett

Musical Staging…………………………………………………………            Susan Hart

Composer/Music Director………………………………………………           Andy Hansen

Production Stage Manager…………………………………………….            Alden Vasquez

Young Performer Supervisor…………………………………………..            Georgette Kelly

 

Ticket Information

Tickets to A Christmas Carol are $25 to $72 and may be purchased online at GoodmanTheatre.org, at the Goodman Theatre Box Office, 170 North Dearborn, or charged by phone at 312.443.3800. See calendar below for prices on specific dates.

The Luxury Ticket Package includes one-time access to the exclusive Patron’s Lounge, complimentary non-alcoholic beverages, VIP coat check (all for up to seven people); plus free Parking (one parking pass per package). The price of the Luxury Ticket Package is the cost of main floor seats plus a $250 tax-deductible donation to the Goodman.

MezzTix are half-price mezzanine tickets available at 6pm for evening shows and 12 noon for matinees at the box office, and at 10am online at GoodmanTheatre.org on the day of performance, subject to availability. 10Tix are $10 mezzanine tickets for students available at 12 noon at the box office, and at 10am online at GoodmanTheatre.org on the day of performance, subject to availability; 10Tix are not available by telephone. Valid student I.D. must be presented when picking up the tickets at will call. Limit four tickets per student with I.D. Tickets are subject to availability and handling fees apply. Groups of 15 or more, call 312.443.3820.

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