We all know the story of Ebeneezer Scrooge and his visit with the three mysterious beings on Christmas Eve. Bah Humbug! Greed, forgiveness and the Christmas spirit are brought to the University with the help of F. Scott Regan, director of the newly adapted “A Christmas Carol,” from Charles Dickens.
The performance will include members of the Bowling Green community as well as students from the University. With the help of stunning lighting techniques, costume and set design, as well as a strong adaptation by Regan, the performance will offer something a little different from the original Dickens play.
“I have tried to make it more of a holiday celebration of the Christmas spirit and not dwell as much on Dickens’ darker view of humanity and life,” Regan said. “The play is condensed from the original, but fairly accurate and will be a musical.”
The preparation for “A Christmas Carol” started in October and haven’t stopped since. Regan wanted to make it more of a community event such as Dickens.
“Since October, rehearsals have been four nights a week,” Regan said. “We have 56 actors ranging from age nine from the community who join a large contingent of University student actors.”
Along with the 56 actors, the production will consist of 25 stage crew working on sound, lighting and special effects.
From Tiny Tim to Bob Cratchet and Scrooge, along with the help of the stage crew will create an accurate and stunning production.
“We are going to have a lot of fun with this production,” Regan said. “We have included carolers, special effects and some sing alongs where the audience can participate.”
The scenes in the production will be very closely based on the original but with a little more pizzaz than Dickens had to work with long ago.
“The sets transport us to Dicken’s England and are enchanted with fog, snow and spectacular lighting effects, also ghosts will magically appear and then disappear,” Regan said. “The mood varies from mysterious and eerie to a romantically nostalgic time then changes to a comically mordant ecstatic production.”
According to Regan, the stage crew has done an excellent job preparing for the production, but the acting has been adding a great deal of prominence to the Christmas spirit as well.
“Senior Asher Mccord is both mean spirited and comical in the role of Scrooge. Senior Lisa Fulton plays Mrs. Cratchit, and Matthew Fossa plays the Ghost of Marley complete with green makeup and a costume full of chains,” Regan said.
Even though there are plenty of versions of the Dickens version, Regan believes that this one couldn’t have come at a better time.
“In our busy commercialized Christmas world we need to be reminded of the need to reject the Christmas humbug spirit that we all feel at times,” Regan said. “Christmas and the production are about changing our ways before it is too late.”
The performance can be seen in the Eva Marie Saint Theatre on Dec. 3-7 at 8p.m. and on Dec. 8 at 2p.m.
“We all need to be reminded of the spirit of Christmas as a time of forgiving, reliving the past and bringing a message of peace and hope,” Regan said. “Just as Scrooge learns the true meaning of Christmas, we all must relearn this message each year.”
