The timeless tale of Ebenezer Scrooge comes to thrilling new life as Tony Award® winner Jefferson Mays (I Am My Own Wife, Gentleman’s Guide…) plays over 50 roles in a virtuosic, master class of a performance that must be seen to be believed. This theatrical achievement comes from the haunting and hope-filled vision of one of Broadway’s most imaginative directors, Michael Arden (Tony-winning Best Revival – Once on this Island).
Mays keeps it in his way, doing so with co-adapters Susan Lyons and Michael Arden, production conceivers Arden and scenic designer Dane Laffrey, director Arden, lighting designer Ben Stanton, sound designer Joshua D. Reid, projection designer Lucy Mackinnon, and hair, wig, and makeup designer Cookie Jordan. What the endlessly imaginative group has created is a Christmas present so big it wouldn't even fit under the storys-tall tree in Rockefeller Center. It requires much more capitalization than something like famous Christmas Carol-presenting Simon Callow standing at a lectern. Which is an observation meant to emphasize that the must-see package may not show up everywhere (or anywhere?) other than large houses where pounds and shillings flow.
This 'Christmas Carol' comes to an early climax - perhaps too early for the show's own good - when Scrooge is visited by the ghost of Marley, his old business partner in miserliness and nitpicking contempt for humanity. No two actors could achieve what Mays, Stanton and Arden offer up here: the suddenly meek and frightened Scrooge bathed in warm candle light one minute, the commanding and devouring Marley drenched in green stench only a second later. How can any 'Christmas Carol' ever top that kind of theatrical tour de force? The adaptation by Mays, Arden and Susan Lyons never quite rises to the terrifying depths of this encounter between Scrooge and Marley. The production continues to be worth watching, but the humbug curmudgeons in the audience might wonder if maybe, despite the show's theme of stinginess, another actor or two could be hired to handle some of the lighter lifting of Dickens' less indelible characters.
1994 | Off-Broadway |
Original Off-Broadway Production Off-Broadway |
1995 | Off-Broadway |
Return Engagement [off-Broadway] Off-Broadway |
1996 | Off-Broadway |
Return Engagement [off-Broadway] Off-Broadway |
1996 | Broadway |
Return Engagement Broadway |
1997 | Off-Broadway |
Return Engagement [off-Broadway] Off-Broadway |
1998 | Off-Broadway |
Return Engagement [off-Broadway] Off-Broadway |
1999 | Off-Broadway |
Return Engagement [off-Broadway] Off-Broadway |
2000 | Off-Broadway |
Return Engagement [off-Broadway] Off-Broadway |
2022 | Broadway |
Original Broadway Production Broadway |
Year | Ceremony | Category | Nominee |
---|---|---|---|
2023 | Drama League Awards | Distinguished Performance Award | Jefferson Mays |
2023 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Lighting Design (Play or Musical) | Ken Elliott |
2023 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Solo Performance | Jefferson Mays |
2023 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Sound Design (Play or Musical) | Joshua D. Reid |
2023 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Video or Projection Design (Play or Musical) | Lucy Mackinnon |
2023 | Tony Awards | Best Lighting Design of a Play | Ben Stanton |
2023 | Tony Awards | Best Scenic Design of a Play | Dane Laffrey |
2023 | Tony Awards | Best Sound Design of a Play | Joshua D. Reid |
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