DICKENS' CHRISTMAS CAROL DINNER SHOW Returns At Center For Visual And Performing Arts

Chicago Tribune Media Newspaper Columnist Philip Potempa and quick-change artist Cara Schmitt are joined by broadcast personality Tony Panek on the Theatre at the Center stage in December 2024 for the return of a fresh and entertaining spin on Charles Dickens' holiday tale classic.

"Dickens' Christmas Carol Dinner Show" invites audiences to see and hear everything unfolding before their eyes and ears during a fast-paced 70-minute show salute to "A Christmas Carol." There are 36 performances, both matinee and evening shows as well abridged 45-minute children's adaptations twice each weekday morning, all running Dec. 1-15, 2024 at The Center for Visual and Performing Arts, 1040 Ridge Road, in Munster, Ind.

Presented as a fourth annual performance run with Potempa once again portraying Ebenezer Scrooge and other roles, the show was previously presented in the CVPA ballroom space during the COVID Pandemic in 2020 and 2021.

For this season's telling, Potempa is paired with Schmitt for the first time to use their range of ever-changing and entertaining vocals and costume swaps. With Schmitt serving as both narrator and also in the guise of all of the female roles, the duo is assisted by Panek, for this trio to portray ALL of the more than two dozen characters featured in the story during this wonderfully amusing telling of the holiday spirit tale.

Broadcast Personality Panek is perched on a platform on stage to create all of the old-time radio "Foley-style" sound and special effects, from fog and floating bubbles to chiming clocks, foreboding looming spirits, bells, whistles and rattling chains.

All show performances are on the Theatre at the Center stage with a pre-show in the lobby 30-minutes prior to every show featuring a 6-foot 2-inch towering, talking and animated Disney designed Ebenezer Scrooge lecturing and lamenting to those patrons gathered in the atrium.

The dinner show is produced by 10Forty Banquets and Catering and Maria E. Arteaga, who is president of the dining and events company. Her husband Executive Chef Hugo Francisco Perea created a custom-themed menu as an additional ticket option for the themed menu served in the ballroom of The Center for Visual and Performing Arts in advance of performances and available as an additional purchase added to the cost of the show ticket.

The themed show menu features English Pub Broccoli Cheese Soup served with London's Parkerhouse Rolls and Butter, followed by the main entree of Mr. Marley's Ghostly Good Roasted Herb Chicken Breast with Sage and Onion Dressing and Cranberry Applesauce along with Mrs. Cratchit's Homestyle Mashed Potatoes and Tiny Tim's Corn O'Brien before a dessert finale of Ghost of Christmas Past's Vanilla Bean Ice Cream with a Peppermint Candy Cane Accent. Coffee and Tea are included with the option of a cash Bar with specialty cocktails available including eggnog, a sparkling "poinsettia" champagne libation and a fruit garnished rum punch.

Tickets for the show-only option are $35 and available by calling the Theatre at the Center box office at 219-836-3255 or at www.TheatreAtTheCenter.com. To add the meal option, it is $30 plus gratuity with meal payment and required reservation made by calling the Catering and Dining and Special Events Office at 219-836-1930, ext. 2.

December is an added special time of year for the beautiful décor and landscape, both inside and outside, at The Center for Visual and Performing Arts in Munster. In addition to all of the outside holiday lights strung throughout the trees and surrounding terrain, the inside atrium lobby features the December Festival of Trees Exhibit with as many as 25 various themed holiday decorated trees inviting guests to stroll throughout the display to add to the season spirit atmosphere while festive holiday music is piped over the lobby speakers.

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