Has any story written in English in the last 300 years been told as many times as A Christmas Carol? This December alone, there’s a three-episode miniseries on FX, news has just arrived that Will Ferrell (!) and Ryan Reynolds (!!) are working on a musical version (!!!) intended for the big screen, and stage productions are playing all over the country. In New York City there’s a one-night-only concert event built around Mr. Magoo’s Christmas Carol (December 16), A Christmas Carol in Harlem (through December 21), a one-man show starring Patrick Stewart in all roles (closing Dec. 13), not to mention a musical version, a different musical version, and one done with Czech marionettes. I even had a go at retelling the story myself, in my intergalactically acclaimed novel A Christmas Caroline. Film, stage, and Czech-marionette rights are available.
The biggest Dickens going, though, is a new Broadway production, playing at the Lyceum Theatre through January 5, imported from London’s Old Vic. It’s a thoroughly charming sort-of musical infused with traditionalism that stars Campbell Scott as old Ebenezer. It is also clearly aimed at out-of-towners, not New Yorkers, which is to say it isn’t interested in turning the story inside-out and upside-down; Scrooge isn’t “daringly reimagined” as a Republican senator, nor is Tiny Tim an illegal immigrant. This is pretty much just a normal, crowd-pleasing Christmas Carol with a few welcome tweaks, so rest easy. Also there are treats handed out to the audience.
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