Photos: First Look At A SHERLOCK CAROL At Westport Country Playhouse

Westport Country Playhouse’s production of “A Sherlock Carol,” a family-friendly holiday show, is running from Tuesday, December 19 through Saturday, December 23. See photos of the production!

Based on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s “The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle,” a Sherlock Holmes story, and Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol,” the two classic tales are combined into one new mystery for all ages. Writer and director is Mark Shanahan, the Playhouse’s incoming artistic director.  Ticket availability is limited.

The six-member cast includes five actors from the original cast of “A Sherlock Carol” that played Off-Broadway for two consecutive holiday seasons in 2021 and 2022. The Off-Broadway production was nominated for a 2022 Off-Broadway Alliance Award for Best New Play and was selected as a “Critic’s Pick” by The New York Times. The original Off-Broadway cast members who will take the Playhouse stage are Drew McVety as Sherlock Holmes; Byron St. Cyr as Ebenezer Scrooge; Joe Delafield as Dr. Watson, Mrs. Dilber, Henry Burke, and Old Joe Brackenridge; Dan Domingues as Dr. Timothy Cratchit, Mr. Topper, Ralph Fezziwig, and Constable Hopkins; and Isabel Keating as The Countess of Morcar, Martha Cratchit, Mary Morstan, Abigail Fezziwig, Caroler, and Woman in Restaurant. New to the cast is Sharone Sayegh as Emma Wiggins, Fan Gardner, Inspector Lestrade, and Mrs. Windigate. 

The actors’ credits are as follows:  Drew McVety (Westport Country Playhouse’s virtual playreading of “A Sherlock Carol” and Script in Hand playreading of “The Scream”; Broadway’s “Bandstand,” “The Front Page,” “The Last Ship,” “Cyrano de Bergerac,” “Billy Elliot,” “Sunday in the Park with George,” “Spamalot,” “Frozen,” “Big River” – Special Tony Award, “Titanic,” “The Heidi Chronicles”; Off-Broadway’s “A Sherlock Carol,” Drama Desk nomination for “Corpus Christi”); Byron St. Cyr as Scrooge (theatre artist, writer, musician; Off-Broadway’s “A Sherlock Carol”; regional theater’s “Beautiful: The Carole King Musical,” “Dames at Sea,” “Billy Elliot,” “Elf: The Musical”; national tours of “Miss Saigon,” “My Fair Lady”; byronstcyr.com or @BSCjr on Instagram); Joe Delafield (Westport Country Playhouse’s “School for Husbands,” Radio Theater’s “A Merry Little Christmas Carol,” Script in Hand playreadings of “Christmas at Pemberley” and “The Murder of Roger Ackroyd”; Broadway’s “Tartuffe”; Off-Broadway’s “Fashions for Men,” “Outward Bound,” “A Sherlock Carol”; television credits include “The Sopranos”; MFA from NYU’s Graduate Acting Program).

Dan Domingues (Westport Country Playhouse virtual playreading of “A Sherlock Carol”; Off-Broadway’s “A Sherlock Carol”; film credits include “Run All Night”; MFA from A.R.T. Institute for Advanced Theatre Training at Harvard; creator and co-host of “Hot Date,” a podcast for movie fans); Isabel Keating (Westport Country Playhouse virtual playreading of “A Sherlock Carol” and Script in Hand playreading of “Agatha Christie’s The Murder of Roger Ackroyd”; Broadway’s “Wicked,” “It’s Only a Play,” “Hairspray,” “Spider-Man,” “Enchanted April,” “The Boy from Oz” - Tony Award nomination, Drama Desk and Theatre World awards; Off-Broadway’s “A Sherlock Carol”; television includes the Emmy Award-winning PBS American Masters “Judy Garland: By Myself”); and Sharone Sayegh (Westport Country Playhouse’s Script in Hand playreading of “As Bees in Honey Drown” and “Agatha Christie’s The Murder of Roger Ackroyd”; Broadway’s “Come From Away,” “The Band’s Visit,” “Mamma Mia!”; 1st National Tour “Come from Away”; Off-Broadway’s “Road Show,” “The Wildness,” “Scheherazade”; Syracuse University alum; sharonesayegh.com).

Writer and director Mark Shanahan is also Playhouse Script in Hand curator and was recently named Westport Country Playhouse incoming artistic director for 2023-24. He will assume the position in March 2024. Shanahan is the writer/director of The New York Times Critics’ Pick “A Sherlock Carol” (Off-Broadway Alliance nomination, Best New Play 2021), playing two seasons in New York, annually at London’s Marylebone Theatre, and for the 2023 holiday season at Westport Country Playhouse, December 19-23.  He recently directed his own adaptation of “Agatha Christie’s The Murder of Roger Ackroyd,” in partnership with Agatha Christie Ltd., which premiered at the Tony Award-winning Alley Theatre. He is the author of “A Merry Little Christmas Carol,” “See Monsters of the Deep,” the Off-Broadway and regional hit comedy “The Dingdong,” as well as numerous radio plays as creator of the White Heron Ghost Light series, featuring Christopher Plummer, Judith Ivey, Rhonda Ross, and other notables. Shanahan has directed at stages around the country such as Alley Theatre, George Street Playhouse, Virginia Stage, Arkansas Rep, White Heron, Mile Square Theatre, Hudson Stage, Theatre Squared, Fulton Opera House, Weston Playhouse, Orlando Shakespeare Festival, Florida Rep, Penguin Rep, Merrimack Rep, The Cape Playhouse, and many more. As an actor, Shanahan has appeared on and Off-Broadway (“The 39 Steps,” “Tryst,” “The Shaugraun,” and others) and at many celebrated regional theatres. Shanahan has appeared on the Westport Country Playhouse stage in “Journey’s End” (2005) “David Copperfield,” directed by Joanne Woodward and Annie Keefe, (2005), “Sedition” (2007), “Tryst” (2008), and “Around the World in 80 Days” (2009), and numerous Script In Hand readings. Shanahan is also the creator and curator of Westport Country Playhouse Radio Theater, in partnership with WSHU Public Radio, and served as writer/director of the Playhouse radio adaptation of “A Merry Little Christmas Carol,” and as director of scripts commissioned for the series. mark-shanahan.net.

The creative team includes James J. Fenton, set design; Linda Cho, costume design; Alyssandra Docherty, lighting design; and John Gromada, music and sound design.  Production stage manager is Bernita Robinson.  Assistant stage manager is Caroline Pastore. Anissa Felix of the original Off-Broadway cast will serve as assistant director as recipient of a Playhouse directing fellowship. Fight choreographer is Seth Andrew Bridges. Props are loaned by the original production designed by Anna Louizos. Props supervisor is Jessica Zivny. Additional support provided by Fat Goose Productions and TheatreNerd Productions.

“A Sherlock Carol” is set in 1894 London on Christmas Eve as a grown-up Tiny Tim asks Sherlock Holmes to investigate the peculiar death of Ebenezer Scrooge.

Performance schedule is Tuesday, December 19 through Saturday, December 23; Tuesday through Thursday at 7 p.m.; Friday and Saturday at 2 and 7 p.m. 

The play is recommended for all ages. Running time is 108 minutes, including one 15-minute intermission.

Single tickets start at $35 and are subject to change based upon availability. Student tickets are $20. For information on special offers, including discounts for senior citizens, educators, military and first responders, Indigenous peoples, professional playwrights, groups, and student rush tickets, as well as options for pay-what-you-will and library passes, visit www.westportplayhouse.org/visit/box-office/.

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