Carrollwood Players Theatre to Step into the Holiday Season with SCROOGE, THE MUSICAL

The Carrollwood Players Theatre offers holiday shoppers a delightful respite from the seasonal hustle and bustle with their production of SCROOGE, THE MUSICAL at the Carrollwood Players Theatre, 4333 Gunn Highway, Friday, November 27 through Saturday, December 19 with performances Fridays and Saturdays at 8 pm and Sundays at 3 pm.

This adaptation of Dickens' immortal A Christmas Carol closely follows the original story but with a lively score written by academy award winner Leslie Bricusse. Songs include the Oscar nominated "Thank You Very Much," the toe-tapping "December the 25," and the wistful "Happiness." The sometimes dark tale of the cantankerous Ebenezer Scrooge and his night of redemption and transformation is a Christmas staple that becomes more light-hearted in the hands of Carrollwood Players director Jeff Lukas.

Lukas says, "Everyone knows this story, so our challenge was how to make the story of A Christmas Carol something that's fresh and exciting. Leslie Bricusse wrote most of this music back in the '70s, and audiences have changed since then. Using the talents of many local actors in the community, as well as an amazing crew, we came together and worked diligently to develop what has turned out to be a classic story line created for a 21st century audience.

We're not changing the story, but there will be many surprises along the way that make audiences say "Hey that was pretty cool!"

The production features Rob L'Ecuyer as Ebenezer Scrooge, Sam Burke as Bob Cratchit, Faith Clark as The Ghost of Christmas Past, Nicholas Knetxke as The Ghost of Christmas Present, Jeffrey M. Lukas as The Ghost of Jacob Marley, Bradley Clark as Tiny Tim, Adriane Falcon as Mrs. Cratchit, and Philip Houdesheldt as The Ghost of Christmas Future.

Tickets, $23 for adults, $20 for seniors, students and military with valid ID, may be purchased online at carrollwood-players-theatre.ticketleap.com. Or make it a holiday night out with the Friday Family Fun Pack. Reduced-price ticket bundles for $35 for two and $65 for four are available at the box office Friday nights. For more information, visit www.carrollwoodplayers.org.

Tampa's nonprofit community theatre since 1981, Carrollwood Players offers a regular season of quality live theatre in its 100-seat playhouse, along with alternative theatre selections in its new intimate 60-seat black box performance space.

To post a comment, you must register and login.