A Christmas Carol was by far the most successful book of the 1843 holiday season. Eight stage adaptations of Charles Dickens' masterpiece were in production within a couple of months of the book’s publication.
And this classic story is every bit as popular today as it was more than 150 years ago — a tireless message to honor Christmas in our hearts and keep it all the year-long through.
Incredibly, Charles Dickens wrote A Christmas Carol over a mere six week period. According to literary lore, while he was writing A Christmas Carol, Dickens said the Cratchits had been “ever tugging at his coat sleeve, as if impatient for him to get back to his desk and continue the story of their lives”.
It's hard to imagine the season without A Christmas Carol.
Friends Lesley and Michael and Jane invited me to join them for a production of A Christmas Carol at Santa Rosa's lovely 6th St Playhouse , this December.
What a delightful production. Do go.
Renowned tv actor and director Charles Siebert is extremely masterful as Ebenezer Scrooge — essential casting, along with the rest of the cast, especially the terrific actors portraying the Cratchit family, ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future and a crowd-pleasing, larger-than-afterlife Al Kaplan as the ghost of Jacob Marley.
Costumer Pat Fitzgerald's festive, Victorian outfitting was given a particularly edgy Sonoma-County extra layer of flair with a steam-punk influence — perfect for the theatre's Railroad Square locale that has been home to back-to-the-future festivals similar in theme to Petaluma's annual Rivertown Revival.
Dialects were good. I always appreciate that. I thoroughly enjoyed the heart-warming enthusiasm of the children and teens in the cast and in the audience that evening.
Performances run through December 22nd. Support this terrific local theatre group and click here to book yourself a seat.
Meanwhile, for full Dickensian-immersion, don't miss this year's Great Dickens Christmas Fair & Victorian Holiday Party at the Cow Palace, in San Francisco, now open weekend's through December 18th.
This fantastic event offers the absolute best-value ticket price for all day entertainment. Take in as many stage shows as you have time for, wander the bustling streets of Victorian London, shop handcrafted goods, eat and drink the best of British fare.
The Dickens Fair has a special place in my heart having worked with my friends, the show's producers, the Patterson Family on their various, stellar events for many years when I was fresh off the boat from the UK.
If you've never been to the Dickens Fair, you won't be disappointed. Suitable for the entire family. Do plan on making time to fully experience this event if you go.
Click here for tickets to the Dickens Fair SF though December 18th.
