Last night my family and I went to see a live production of A Christmas Carol at the Lyric Theater here in Oklahoma City. If you have been reading my blog you know I talk up the Muppet's Christmas Carol a lot but outside of that movie it is probably one of my favorite Christmas stories. I bet Charles Dickens when he wrote didn't know how many movies would be made out of his story, which is about 80 pages long, and really takes no time to read. My mom likes the 1970 version of it called "Scrooge" and my step mom likes one that was made in 1951. But no matter what version you like it is a great story about how people can change, I guess that is why I like it.
Back to going to see the live version. It is always cool to see how a live production does things that you have only seen done on film with special effects. Since the plot of the movie is so well known I can not critique it and I really have nothing to say towards the acting because it was good (corny when it needed to be but not overly so). But kudos to the make up department because looking at the cast of who is who the guy who played Scrooge was actually really young but until I looked at the pictures I thought he was old. I usually like the ghost of Christmas Present, mostly because they seem more witty and a little more sarcastic then the other ghost but in this show the ghost of Christmas Past had more wit and humors lines and she was doing it all hanging from the ceiling. Also particular to this production the ghost of Christmas Yet to Come, the creature usually has no face and I guess kind of looks like the grim reaper but this ghost looked like a big skeleton in a black cape but he had a face kind of ET looking (so my brother in law and I thought).
Over all a great production, even though it was not a musical, I liked the songs they sung in between the scenes were traditional Christmas songs, so I did sing a long (but softly). Also one of the street vendors came down the aisle and asked me if I wanted to buy a center piece for my table. So good interaction with the audience. So if you are in the Oklahoma city area and can get tickets go see it, or maybe try it for next year.
One thing I like seeing about multiple versions is comparing and contrasting them. I know you shouldn't always do this as you are always to prefer one version of one thing better than another, it is just natural. But I actually like seeing the similarities between the versions, like which lines sick. For example in multiple versions when Bob Cratchit makes a toast to Mr. Scrooge, the founder of the feast, Mrs. Cratchit says "The founder of the feast indeed... I would give him a piece of my mind and I hope he has a big appetite." Of course Miss Piggy playing Mrs. Cratchit says "I would give him a piece of my mind and I bet he would choke." But there are other similarities so two Christmases ago after seeing the Christmas Carol with Jim Carrey I decided to read the original source. It is not that long but Dickens can go into tangents about the conditions of society, that didn't really help the story, but I think he was paid by the word. But it helped me understand the story better.
A few more days till Christmas, hope you my lovely readers are having a good Christmas season.
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