‘A Christmas Carol: The Musical’ to go on stage this weekend

Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol: The Musical will be coming to the stage in Springfield this weekend.  The Springfield Community Theatre and Springfield Community Edu-cation are teaming up to perform the large-scale stage musical that will go on stage at 7:00 p.m. Friday, Nov. 17,  and Saturday, Nov. 18; and at 2:00 Sunday, Nov. 19, in the Performing Arts Center at Springfield Public School.  Approximately 35 students from grades 3-12 and 30 adults from Springfield and the surrounding area are part of the production cast and have been rehearsing weekly since early August.

A Christmas Carol: The Musical is a large Broadway production written by the same group of people who wrote Beauty and the Beast.  It was performed annually from 1994-2003 at New York City’s Paramount Theatre in Madison Square Garden and adapted for television in 2004, being produced by Hallmark Entertainment for NBC. 

Ebenezer Scrooge is a prosperous curmudgeon who is the main character of the musical.  He believes that personal wealth is far more valuable than the happiness and comfort of others.  With an infuriated “Bah! Humbug!” Scrooge summates his feelings of Christmas tidings and charitable giving, but he’s forced to face his selfish ways when three ghosts on Christmas Eve lead him through his Past, Present and Future. The Ghost of Christmas Past  escorts Scrooge on a journey into the past to previous Christmases from his earlier years.  The Ghost of Christmas Present takes Scrooge through London to unveil Christmas as it will happen that year.  The Ghost of Christmas Future  leads the curmudgeon through a sequence of mysterious scenes relating to an unnamed man’s recent death. Thanks to their guidance, Scrooge recognizes his faults and greets Christmas morning with a cheerful “Happy Christmas.” 

See complete story in this week's issue of the Springfield Advance-Press.