An award-winning 'Christmas Carol' returns, bells and thistles intact

At the Off-Broadway venue PAC NYC, creators Jack Thorne and Matthew Warchus are wrapping audiences up in Charles Dickens's tale with an in-the-round staging.

Summary

• Three cast members from A Christmas Carol off Broadway discuss the unique staging of the production and the longevity of the Charles Dickens story
• Jack Thorne and Matthew Warchus's production runs at PAC NYC from November 23 to January 4

Charles's Dickens's A Christmas Carol is known for bearing gifts, at least in the stage version adapted by Jack Thorne and directed by Matthew Warchus. At productions at London's Old Vic (held every year since 2017) and on Broadway (in 2019, later winning five Tony Awards), actors greeted audience members with snacks upon arrival. Additional foodstuffs descended from above in a climatic scene, and snow dusted the audience beneath lantern light. It remains to be seen whether these treats — or new, yet-unknown ones — will appear in A Christmas Carol's stateside return this season, playing off Broadway at the Perelman Performing Arts Center (PAC NYC) from November 23 to January 4. But there's no doubt it will wrap you up in the timeless story.

We do know that, as at the Old Vic, this production is performed in the round. PAC has three theatre spaces that can be rearranged into dozens of configurations, and two of them are merged for A Christmas Carol, with audiences seated on all sides of an X-shaped stage. (Or a cross-shaped stage, in keeping with Dickens's theme of Christian charity.)

"The nicest thing is that nobody will be very far from the stage," said Tony Award winner Michael Cerveris, who stars as Ebenezer Scrooge, the miser who reforms after getting ghostly visitors on Christmas Eve. "There's really not a bad seat in the house."

It does sound like a setup ripe for audience immersion, which isn't automatically the case for all 360-degree shows. "When you do a show in the round [...] you feel like a rotisserie chicken, because you're always trying to twirl around and face a different way," joked Tony nominee Nancy Opel, reprising her role as the Ghost of Christmas Past from a 2021 San Francisco run. "This seems very natural."

Warchus takes the pressure off each individual by keeping the 16-person ensemble collectively moving, not unlike in a musical. There's an original score (by Christopher Nightingale, who won a Tony for it) and dancing (by Lizzi Gee). The actors double as a bell choir. They build up the sets in real time, according to Opel.

"This new configuration means new choices, new ideas, and same heart [and] story," added Tony nominee Crystal Lucas-Perry, who plays the Ghost of Christmas Present and Mrs. Fezziwig. Nearly 200 years after its original publication, the core of Dickens's tale has remained steadfast: "Every single small act of kindness [...] has the opportunity to change, to transform, and to ripple outwards, and it matters," the actress continued.

"If it turned out nobody felt like they needed redemption, or they didn't know anybody who needed to maybe think again about the way they live their lives, then maybe it wouldn't come around every year," echoed Cerveris. "But [...] it's nice to be reminded that we have a chance to become better people every year."

In terms of stagings, A Christmas Carol has shown remarkable elasticity. It's been performed in traditional proscenium theatres, in 19th-century mansions, and even as a musical in NYC alone. That most productions are family-friendly and relatively short — this one's 2 hours including intermission — has only helped its longevity.

Here, an added bonus is PAC NYC's downtown Manhattan location, far from the wall-to-wall seasonal crowds in Midtown. Said Cerveris with a laugh, "I can pretty much guarantee it's going to be easier to get to this theatre than it is to Broadway theatres during the holidays!"

That's no "bah, humbug" to Broadway – it's proof that every corner of the city abounds with Christmas spirit. And, in the case of A Christmas Carol, spirits.

Get A Christmas Carol tickets now.

Top image credit: Michael Cerveris as Ebenezer Scrooge in A Christmas Carol. (Photo by Matt Licari)
In-article image credit: A Christmas Carol at the Old Vic in 2023. (Photo by Manuel Harlan)