Information

Show Credits: Book by Mike Ockrent
Lyrics by Lynn Ahrens
Music by Alan Menken
Book by Lynn Ahrens

Description:

Charles Dickens' A CHRISTMAS CAROL gets the full Broadway treatment by Alan Menken,  Lynn Ahrens and Mike Ockrent.

This spectacular musical extravaganza ran for ten years at Madison Square Garden. In 2004, this version became the basis of an NBC Hallmark Entertainment special (teleplay adaptation by Lynn Ahrens) featuring Kelsey Grammer as Scrooge, and an array of stars including Jason Alexander, Jesse L. Martin, Jane Krakowski, Geraldine Chaplin, Jennifer Love Hewitt and Ruthie Henshall.

But even without starry casts and spectacular trappings, this A CHRISTMAS CAROL retains its emotional power and pure joy thanks to the marvelously told story and beautiful score.

Insight from the experts Staging Tip: A LETTER FROM THE DIRECTOR was written by Mike Ockrent in the early years of the production of A Christmas Carol:

Dear Christmas Carolers,

"It's never too late to change." That's the message in our musical version of "A Christmas Carol." It's a wonderful, optimistic Christmas message that Charles Dickens' story reminds us of every year. And the notion that the human spirit is not immutable, cast in stone, incapable of renewal, is the reason that "A Christmas Carol" has found such a place in our hearts, generation after generation. This magnificent underlying theme has come to symbolize the secular, yet spiritual, meaning of the Christmas festival.

When Lynn Ahrens, Alan Menken and I set out to dramatize and musicalize this classic tale, this was our starting point. But something else had drawn us and our great creative team together. We wanted to create a show for New Yorkers, and particularly those children that had never experienced before the wonder and magic of theatre. This show is really dedicated to the children of our area for whom a visit to the theatre is a rare or non-existent experience.

My first visit to the theatre was as a very small child in North London. Like so many children in Britain, every Christmas I'd be taken by my parents to the local theatre and sit enthralled at that uniquely British thing called a Pantomime. And it was magical! Funny, thrilling, and happening right there in front of me. It changed my life. I wanted nothing more than to be a part of that wonderful world of live theatre.

It is my privilege now to be a part of that world. At "A Christmas Carol," I hope that kids and families will experience the same thrill I had all those years ago of enjoying the show and the wonderful reminder that nothing need remain the same, that within us all we have the capacity to share, communicate and love each other.

Sincerely,
Mike Ockrent