Christmas Tale

Bah! Humbug! it was a full house at the Dow Arena Theatre, at Pierce College for the play A Christmas Carol (Charles Dickens’ version adapted by Jacqueline Goldfinger) directed by RoZsa Horvath on Friday. The cast of 12 immediately interacted with the audience as they walked through the rows to greet them with a loud and cheerful “Merry Christmas!”.

“I thought it was great, I really like the interaction,” said Bob Frymire, audience member. White lights hit the stage as the cast sang to “Here we come a caroling” as the opening song. “I felt that we were back in the 1800s with all the characters,” said Nancy Frymire, audience member.

Rounds of applause followed after the opening number, and the cast wasted no time and sang to “Jingle Bells” as the crowd of 87 people joined to sing along. Shades of blues set the stage for a cold Winter season, with a soft whispering wind sound in the background; as the characters shrugged their shoulders and cuffed their hands.

Jim Seerden plays the main character Ebenezer Scrooge, who is a grumpy old man that hates Christmas. Scrooge goes home after work and as he lays down his sleep is disturbed by three ghost  who enter his room. The first ghost is Jacob Marley, played by David Colville, who is covered in chains and comes to scare Scrooge  out of his sleep. Marley preps him for the following two visits and says “Remember the past between us”.

Shortly after Marley’s visit, a ghost draped in cream colored cloths and golden shimmers enters the room; the Ghost of Christmas Past  is played by Michael Beck. Scrooge is then taken back into his childhood memories. They enter an era where Scrooge is in school and becomes sad yet more bitter. “All the other boys went home for the Holidays, and me? Alone again,”  sadly said Scrooge, main character.

The Ghost of Christmas Past and the Ghost of Christmas Present, take Scrooge back in time to see his family and other previous events. Just when Scrooge thought his visits were over, the stage lights dimmed and fog filled the floor.

A Black ghost took him to see his future; it was then when Scrooge saw his tombed and  that gave him a change of heart. Scrooge was changed, he put on his best clothes and jumped up and down and said “I’m as happy as a school boy”.

He went outside and stood with everyone to sing “We wish you a Merry Christmas”. Clapping and whistling echoed in the Dow Arena Theatre as the actors held hands and bowed. “I love all the carols, it makes [the play] it merry,” said RoZsa Horvath.

Ebenezer Scrooge, played by Jim Seerden, sits in his counting-house. (Lorena Perez-Valladares)

The Ghost of Christmas Past takes Scrooge back to see his old love Bell. (Lorena Perez-Valladares)

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