Photo Flash: First Look at MetroStage's A BROADWAY CHRISTMAS CAROL

A Broadway Christmas Carol, created by Kathy Feininger, returns to MetroStage for the holidays through Dec. 28 for a fifth season . It has been the holiday show for the past four seasons and has become a holiday tradition here at MetroStage. Prior to 2009, it had played to sold out houses at Round House Theatre in Silver Spring, Maryland, for seven consecutive years ending in 2004.

Michael Sharp is pleased to be returning to MetroStage to direct and choreograph this production for a fourth season, and this year he will be playing the role of The Man Who Isn't Scrooge for the first time. In addition to directing the show, Mr. Sharp has performed Scrooge twice at MetroStage. At MetroStage he was seen in Side by Side by Sondheim (Helen Hayes nomination) at the Omni Shoreham in 1996, and he opened the new theatre in 2001 in Starting Here, Starting Now. He has also been seen at Signature Theatre in Sweeney Todd, Grand Hotel (Helen Hayes Award), Side Show, Assassins and many others. He currently lives in Covington, Virginia.

Howard Breitbart will return to MetroStage for a third year to music direct and play The Man Behind the Piano. He music directed The Last Five Years and Closer Than Ever at MetroStage, and he played for A Broadway Christmas Carol at Round House for several years. He has toured with The Capitol Steps for over two decades. On the cabaret circuit he has played at Signature Theatre the "Lost Songs" series about the lost theater songs of different decades, a series directed by Matt Gardiner. At Everyman Theater he has played cabarets covering the music of Rodgers and Hammerstein, Rodgers and Hart, Dorothy Fields, Johnny Mercer, and Irving Berlin.

The cast also features Peter Boyer who returns to play Scrooge for the third season (previously in 2010 and 2013). He has been seen at Wayside Theatre in Groucho: A Life in Revue, playing Groucho Marx; at the Baltimore Shakespeare Festival in Taming of the Shrew, and Comedy of Errors (Dromio of Syracuse); at Ford's Theatre in Parade, Shenandoah, and in 1776 (Dr. Josiah Bartlett); and at Olney in 1776 and Sound of Music. He was in A Modest Proposal, an independent film.

Tracey Stephens is happy to be returning to MetroStage as the Woman Who Isn't Scrooge for the fourth season. She was last seen in Avenue Q at Olney and in Imagination Stage's premiere of Lulu & the Brontosaurus as the glamorous Tigress. She also is a member of The Capitol Steps (14 years and counting) playing Hillary Clinton, Nancy Pelosi, Kim Jong Ill, Sarah Palin, a disgruntled government worker and tea-party extraordinaire. She understudied The Last Five Years at MetroStage and has studied with the Groundlings in L.A.

Performances for A Broadway Christmas Carol will be Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays at 8, Saturdays at 3 and 8, Sundays at 3 and 7, Nov. 25-Dec. 28 with all tickets $50 (no performance on Thanksgiving or Christmas, and special Tuesday performances on Nov. 25 at 8 pm (PWYC) and Dec. 23. Wednesday Nov. 26 will be a specially priced $30. Press night is Saturday Nov. 29 at 8 pm. For ticket reservations call 800 494-8497 or go online to www.metrostage.org. For information and group sales call 703-548-9044. MetroStage is located at 1201 North Royal St. in North Old Town Alexandria. There is a free parking lot and fine dining nearby. The theatre is handicap accessible.

Photos by Colin Hovde

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