A Berkshire Carol
The December issue of Preview Massachusetts magazine is out and my story this month is on the Berkshire Theater Festival's production of the Charles Dickins Holiday classic, "A Christmas Carol." Here's the first few paragraphs:“Where better to do A Christmas Carol than Stockbridge?” asks Berkshire Theater Festival Artistic Director Kate McGuire.
Indeed.
Charles Dickens’ holiday classic has been adapted dozens of times over the years for stage, film and television. Shortly after writing it in 1843, Dickens himself adapted it for the many public readings he gave of the story. Today, there are musicals, animated movies, sequels, modernizations and parodies based on the Scrooge tale.
But amidst all that, the 78-year-old Berkshire Theater Festival offers a stripped-down, faithful Christmas Carol with two distinct advantages: the well-preserved Victorian location of Stockbridge and an intimate setting in the company’s 122-seat Unicorn Theater.
The Berkshire Theater Festival is the longest-running professional performing arts organization in the Berkshires, but like many of the area’s attractions, it is mostly known as a summer phenomenon. McGuire told Preview that BTF used to offer readings as a holiday gift to the community. But last year, the company stepped it up with a full production of A Christmas Carol in what it hopes will become an annual tradition. As McGuire put it, “We decided it was time to offer a bigger gift.”
Eric Hill, who adapted Carol for the Unicorn stage, will return this year to co-direct the play and star as Ebeneezer Scrooge. Hill has played just about every part in the Christmas Carol in his thirty-year career in theater. Scrooge, he said, is perhaps “the most well known and well loved (and hated) characters in theater.” Playing the penny-pinching, misanthropic Scrooge, you “get the audience to really enjoy hating you.”
Indeed.
Charles Dickens’ holiday classic has been adapted dozens of times over the years for stage, film and television. Shortly after writing it in 1843, Dickens himself adapted it for the many public readings he gave of the story. Today, there are musicals, animated movies, sequels, modernizations and parodies based on the Scrooge tale.
But amidst all that, the 78-year-old Berkshire Theater Festival offers a stripped-down, faithful Christmas Carol with two distinct advantages: the well-preserved Victorian location of Stockbridge and an intimate setting in the company’s 122-seat Unicorn Theater.
The Berkshire Theater Festival is the longest-running professional performing arts organization in the Berkshires, but like many of the area’s attractions, it is mostly known as a summer phenomenon. McGuire told Preview that BTF used to offer readings as a holiday gift to the community. But last year, the company stepped it up with a full production of A Christmas Carol in what it hopes will become an annual tradition. As McGuire put it, “We decided it was time to offer a bigger gift.”
Eric Hill, who adapted Carol for the Unicorn stage, will return this year to co-direct the play and star as Ebeneezer Scrooge. Hill has played just about every part in the Christmas Carol in his thirty-year career in theater. Scrooge, he said, is perhaps “the most well known and well loved (and hated) characters in theater.” Playing the penny-pinching, misanthropic Scrooge, you “get the audience to really enjoy hating you.”