A Christmas Carol
November 26 – December 23, 2004
By Charles Dickens
Adapted and directed by Gerald Freedman
Staged by Andrew May

Press Release

Great Lakes Theater Festival Wraps Up 2004 Season With A Christmas Carol

October 27, 2004
GLTF’s Gift to Northeast Ohio Is Region’s Best-Loved Holiday Entertainment

The stage of the Ohio Theatre, Playhouse Square Center will glow with good spirits and time-honored tradition when Great Lakes Theater Festival presents its annual production of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, running November 26 through December 23, 2004. The production has delighted an estimated 350,000 people in its history, making it Northeast Ohio’s best-loved and best-attended holiday entertainment.

Great Lakes Theater Festival’s Associate Artistic Director, Andrew May, makes his Festival directing debut as he stages former artistic director Gerald Freedman’s heartwarming adaptation of this classic tale.  The production features a multi-generational cast of actors, singers and dancers led by veteran Cleveland actor Dudley Swetland, returning for his eighth season in the role of miserly Ebenezer Scrooge.  The production sponsors for GLTF’s  A Christmas Carol are Heinen’s Fine Foods, The John P. Murphy Foundation and UBS. The production’s media sponsor is WDOK Soft Rock 102.1 F.M.  Great Lakes Theater Festival’s 43rd season is sponsored by National City Bank and Armada Funds.  Media sponsors for the Festival’s 2004 season are Cleveland.com, The Cleveland Free Times, Northern Ohio Live Magazine, WCPN 90.3 ideastream and WKYC Channel 3. 

“It’s exciting for us as a company of artists to revisit this great, classic, holiday story,” said Andrew May, who will stage this season’s production.  “We are blessed with an immensely talented cast and a wonderful adaptation that we simply can’t wait to share.  I am overjoyed to make my directorial debut here at GLTF with a piece of theater that has meant so much to this company and to this community as has A Christmas Carol for over a decade and a half.”

GLTF Producing Artistic Director Charles Fee remarked, “The combination of Gerald Freedman’s inspired and moving adaptation, Andrew May’s dynamic gifts as an artist, our remarkable design team and our talented cast are sure to delight audiences, whether they’re attending for the first time, or returning to experience this holiday tradition again with friends and family.”

Great Lakes Theater Festival’s production of A Christmas Carol features many members of the Festival’s 2004 resident acting company.  A Christmas Carol veteran, Scott Plate reprises his role of Ghost of Christmas Present in this season’s production.  His contributions to GLTF in 2004 include playing Lucentio in The Taming of the Shrew and Metellus Cimber in Julius Caesar.  Also a member of GLTF’s 2004 acting company, Cleveland Heights native Laura Perrotta (Katherina in The Taming of the Shrew, Gwendolen Fairfax in The Importance of Being Earnest and Portia in Julius Caesar) reprises her roles of Mother Cleaveland and Scrooge’s sweetheart Belle in this year’s edition of the production.  Jeffrey Hawkins (Company in Julius Caesar, Company in The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) and as Tranio in The Taming of the Shrew) portrays Scrooge’s effervescent Nephew Fred again this year and Lynn Robert Berg will take over the role of Jacob Marley. Mr. Berg is only the second actor to ever play the role of Marley since the inception of the Festival’s production of A Christmas Carol.  Earlier this year, Mr. Berg also appeared in Julius Caesar, The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) and The Taming of the Shrew.  Other A Christmas Carol cast members returning from the Festival’s Summer/Fall repertory acting company include:  Aled Davies (Lady Bracknell in The Importance of Being Earnest and Julius Caesar in Julius Caesar) as Topper, Nephew Fred’s hapless bachelor friend; Tom Ford (Casca in Julius Caesar) as Bob Crachit and Douglas Frederick (John Worthing in The Importance of Being Earnest and Cassius in Julius Caesar) as Joe the Keeper.

This season’s A Christmas Carol cast is also a mix of familiar and new faces.  The irrepressible Fezziwig is played once again by John Payonk.  Mrs. Fezziwig/Cynthia (“the silly sister” at Nephew Fred’s holiday party) is played this season by MaryAnn Black, who played the role of Mrs. Crachit last season.  Carie Yonekawa will rejoin Great Lakes Theater Festival as she reprises her role as the Debtor’s wife in this year’s production of A Christmas Carol.  Also returning to Great Lakes Theater Festival are recent Baldwin-Wallace College graduates Matt Lillo as the ghosts of Christmas Past and Future and Benji Reid as Richard / Peter Cratchit / Dick Willkins.  Making their debuts with Great Lakes Theater Festival are Jessica Cope (Jane/Mrs. Crachit/Charwoman) and Hannah Laird as (Elizabeth/Martha Crachit/Fan).

The Young Acting Company for A Christmas Carol features talented young artists from across Northern Ohio.  This season, the role of the Cratchit’s youngest son, Tiny Tim, is shared by Ethan Fitz of Westlake and Aric Generette Floyd of Cleveland.  Mr. Fitz will make his Great Lakes Theater Festival debut while Mr. Floyd will reprise his role.  Also returning to this year’s production of A Christmas Carol are Andrew Johnson of Chardon, Charlie May of Cleveland Heights, Tricia O’Toole of Fairview Park and Emma Wahl of Pepper Pike. Rounding out the A Christmas Carol Young Acting Company and making their Great Lakes Theater Festival debuts are Liana Decates of Orange, Liz Jones of Solon and Andre Patton of Cleveland.

Freedman’s adaptation of A Christmas Carol is presented as a story within a story. The fictitious Cleaveland family gathers in its Victorian-era parlor on Christmas Eve, to read Mr. Dickens’ book. As Mrs. Cleaveland reads the story to her family, her youngest child, Master William, reimagines familiar faces as characters in the story: the Cleaveland’s crotchety manservant becomes Scrooge, Father becomes Bob Cratchit, Mother becomes Belle, and the Cleaveland children become the Cratchits, with Master William becoming the beloved Tiny Tim. In all, more than 60 Dickens characters are brought to life on stage.

Last year, Gerald Freedman recounted his thoughts on developing the adaptation of GLTF’s first production of A Christmas Carol sixteen years ago. “Now I know you may find this hard to believe, but I was in my fifties and I had never read A Christmas Carol, being a young Jewish fellow from Lorain, Ohio, and I had never seen it,” admitted Freedman.  “I’d never seen any version of it.  So the first thing I had to do was read the book.  And it stunned me, which may seem odd to many who grew up with it as children, and an oft told tale.  It just stunned me at what a beautiful work it was and how seriously Dickens had invested in the story.  It has come to so many of us encrusted with mythology, and holiday good spirit and sweetness and light – all of which is part of it – but I hadn’t realized what a great, great story it was.  What I saw in it was a story of redemption; that it is never too late for any of us to find the kernel of compassion, of humanity within us.”

GLTF’s production incorporates theatrical special effects to retain a strong sense of the supernatural, emphasizing the novel’s origins in folk tales and myth. Designers for the GLTF production blend exceptional stagecraft with dramatic effects that evoke the magical and mysterious aspects of a classic ghost story. GLTF resident designer John Ezell and Gene Emerson Friedman designed the scenery. The richly detailed costumes are by James Scott, lighting is by Mary Jo Dondlinger and is recreated this season by Cynthia Stillings. Sound design is by Tom Mardikes and Stan Kozak. Music was written by Robert Waldman, with Stuart Raleigh as musical director. Dances for A Christmas Carol were conceived by David Shimotakahara and staged by Pandora Robertson.

Great Lakes Theater Festival’s sixteenth annual production of A Christmas Carol opens on November 26 and runs through December 23, 2004 at the Ohio Theatre, Playhouse Square Center.  Opening Night will take place on Friday, November 26th’s evening performance. The performance schedule for A Christmas Carol includes Thursday through Saturday evening performances with curtains at 7:30 p.m.  A Wednesday evening performance is scheduled for December 22nd at 7:30 p.m.  Saturday matinees are slated for November 27th, December 11th and 18th at 1:30 p.m.  Sunday matinees occur on November 28th and December 5th, 12th and 19th at 3:00 p.m. One Friday matinee is scheduled for November 27th at 1:30 p.m. as a preview performance.

An audio-described performance is scheduled for Sunday, December 5th at 3:00 p.m. A sign-interpreted performance is scheduled for Sunday, December 12th at 3:00 p.m.

Tickets for A Christmas Carol range from $25 to $45.  For tickets, either call (216) 241-6000, order online, or visit the Playhouse Square Center Box Office.

Special rates are available to students and educators at the cost of $16 for any seat at any performance.    For student or educator tickets, either call (216) 241-6000, order online, or visit the Playhouse Square Center Box Office.

Groups of ten or more save up to 20%.  Group pricing and reservation information is available by calling the Playhouse Square Center Group Sales Office at (216) 348-5277, or by ordering online.

Since 1962, Great Lakes Theater Festival has brought the pleasure, power and relevance of classic theater to the widest possible audience in Northern Ohio.

Reviews

The Plain Dealer
Wednesday, December 01, 2004
Cleavelands and Cratchits come alive in adaptation
By Zachary Lewis, Special to The Plain Dealer

That Charles Dickens spent 20 years reading his works to the public may be one clue to why Gerald Freedman’s adaptation of A Christmas Carol has lasted into its 16th annual revival at the Great Lakes Theater Festival.

Freedman’s play-within-a-play concept, staged for the first time this year by associate artistic director Andrew May, centers on a family (the Cleavelands) reciting the Dickens classic aloud to each other, thus realigning the time-honored story with its origin as a blockbuster book.

William, the youngest Cleaveland played Sunday afternoon by Ethan Fitz, visualizes the events as they unfold. While his mother, played by Great Lakes resident actress Laura Perrotta, reads to her children, William lets his mind wander. He imagines the family’s servant, Samuels, as Scrooge, his father as Bob Cratchit, and himself as Tiny Tim. The two settings merge smoothly and both seem more magical by context.

Dudley Swetland returns for his eighth season as Ebenezer Scrooge, whom he plays as a stuffy and rather endearing old fuddy-duddy with untamable hair.

He gasps and groans frequently and comically as the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future reawaken his inner philanthropist. Christmas Past might even suffice for this Scrooge: Once reminded of his childhood, he’s almost ready to repent then and there.

Speaking of ghosts, Lynn Robert Berg has taken over the role of Jacob Marley, Scrooge’s former business partner, long played at Great Lakes by John Buck Jr. Somehow the chains appear thicker and heavier in Berg’s portrayal, the stiff-legged character and particularly the howling pit from which he emerges spookier than in previous productions.

Tom Ford’s Cratchit is a kind-hearted person and exemplary father whose predicted misfortune and tears evoke genuine empathy. As Scrooge’s nephew Fred, Jeffrey Hawkins plays an easygoing fellow who’s almost too perfect to like.

John Payonk, a boisterous, Santa Claus-type presence, is in his ninth season as Fezziwig, Scrooge’s mirthful former employer. He doubles as a jolly sea captain who proves that Christmas spirit extends over the oceans, too.

Scrooge’s bedroom is a stony Gothic chamber, while the future graveyard is shrouded in stereotypical London fog in this set by John Ezell and Gene Emerson Friedman. Special effects include Scrooge’s flight through time with Christmas Past and Christmas Present’s sudden entrance through the rear wall. Costumes are by James Scott.

A few rigid deliveries and clunky British accents aside, the large supporting cast turns in an effective performance as the rest of the Cratchits, Cleavelands and other townsfolk surrounding or envisioning Scrooge. It’s easy to imagine them together forming the kind of 19th-century working class who might have flocked to hear Dickens in person.

Zachary Lewis is a free-lance writer in Cleveland.
© 2004 The Plain Dealer. Used with permission.

Photos

Dudley Swetland stars as Scrooge in Great Lakes Theater Festival’s production of Charles Dickens’ holiday classic A Christmas Carol at the Ohio Theatre, Playhouse Square Center. Photo by Roger Mastroianni		The Ghost of Christmas Present (above Scott Plate) looms over Ignorance (child, left, Charlie May) and Want (child, right, Emma Wahl) in Great Lakes Theater Festival’s production of Charles Dickens’ holiday classic A Christmas Carol at the Ohio Theatre, Playhouse Square Center. Photo by Roger Mastroianni
The Cleaveland family celebrates the holiday season by enjoying Charles Dickens’ classic, A Christmas Carol in Great Lakes Theater Festival’s production of the same name at the Ohio Theatre, Playhouse Square Center. (From left to right, back row) Benji Reid, Andrew Johnson, Tricia O’Toole, Katye Wilfong, (From left to right, front row) Emma Wahl, Laura Perrotta and Aric Generette Floyd. Photo by Roger Mastroianni		Lynn Robert Berg stars as Jacob Marley in Great Lakes Theater Festival’s production of Charles Dickens’ holiday classic A Christmas Carol at the Ohio Theatre, Playhouse Square Center. Photo by Roger Mastroianni
The Cratchit family takes center stage in Great Lakes Theater Festival’s production of Charles Dickens’ holiday classic A Christmas Carol at the Ohio Theatre, Playhouse Square Center. The family features actors (from left to right) Emma Wahl, Andrew Johnson, Tricia O’Toole, Katye Wilfong, Jessica Cope, Benji Reid, Aric Generette Floyd and Tom Ford. Photo by Roger Mastroianni