Theatre Calgary celebrates tradition and generosity with A Christmas Carol
iPhoto caption: Photo by Trudie Lee.
Move over, Muppets: Theatre Calgary might be here to threaten your claim to the definitive adaptation of A Christmas Carol.
So says the team behind the enormous undertaking, which features a large cast, original music, inventive costumes, and scenographic designs that rival those on Mirvish Way. A Christmas Carol has been a Theatre Calgary tradition for 35 years, with numerous casts, adaptations, and changes along the way. The pandemic moved the play online, then back to the stage in a smaller, more stripped-down version in 2021. While the tradition persisted, it changed shape, adapting to the realities of producing theatre under imperfect conditions.
2023 marks the return of A Christmas Carol in all its glory, complete with children scampering across the stage and several highly complex group scenes. I flew to Calgary to attend opening night, in a whirlwind trip I’m eager to repeat for subsequent Carol viewings.
Charles Dickens’ lesson stays the same in this play-with-songs adaptation by Geoffrey Simon Brown: the holidays are a time for generosity, forgiveness, and family.
“In many ways, the story remains relevant,” said Stafford Arima, artistic director of Theatre Calgary and director of A Christmas Carol. “Perhaps even more today, as we see the difference between the haves and the have-nots.”
He’s got a point. While the tale of poverty and Christmastime redemption will always be timely, it’s hard not to see the echoes of Scrooge’s greed in Galen Weston or Jeff Bezos this year. 2023 has been the year of depleted food banks; precariously housed international students and refugees; an economic bubble on the cusp of bursting forever. Bah humbug, indeed.
“We as a society, much more than they did in the Victorian days, have opportunities to look at the past, the present, and the future and really make some decisions about how we were before,” said Arima. “I think for our audiences, it’s going to be an exhilarating moment to see this many bodies onstage. This year, with everything going on in the planet, we knew it was important to bring back what we call the ‘big’ version of A Christmas Carol, along with our Theatre for All initiative, which prices all orchestra seats at $39. This feels like an important year.”
Arima’s right — there are a whole lot of bodies onstage. But it’s the work they’re doing that lingers in my memory as I write this piece. Allison Lynch opens the show as an unnamed narrator, but soon enough, she’s the production’s fiddle player, following around Doug McKeag’s dastardly Scrooge while playing. And in fact, it’s her own underscoring that she’s playing — she’s credited as the production’s composer and music director.
“I knew this was going to be a big version of the show,” Lynch said in an interview. “I wanted to honour that by using a big orchestral sound, which is why I used the full score of flutes and strings and brass and all of that. The fiddler being written into the script was a great opportunity to use my Irish fiddling skills.”
Lynch has appeared in Theatre Calgary’s A Christmas Carol a few times, though not always as a musician. She enjoys getting to experience projects as both a designer and performer: “I get to see the creation process from a couple of different lenses,” she said. “It’s really neat to see the work from both perspectives.
“People say that if you don’t notice the sound design, it’s good, and I don’t necessarily agree with that,” she continued. “It should be noticed in a way that supports the story. It shouldn’t just disappear into the background.”
Lynch added that Theatre Calgary recently obtained a new sound system, which made designing the soundscape for A Christmas Carol even more of a thrill. “I got to incorporate singing in a way that works with the joy of what’s happening in the moment,” she said. “The composed music gets a chance to be very present.”
Meanwhile, McKeag has the almighty task of playing Scrooge — with Patrick Stewart, Alistair Sim, and the Muppet-surrounded Michael Caine to live up to.
“It’s been nothing short of amazing, and very life-affirming and career-affirming, to be handed a plum role and one I really believe in,” he said, sharing the joys of his first year playing Scrooge after portraying a handful of other characters in previous years. “Scrooge is such a strange and wonderful character, and I love working with Theatre Calgary.
“I don’t think Scrooge is evil,” he added, speaking on the psychology of one of Dickens’ most misunderstood anti-heroes. “He’s hurting. He’s got trauma from his youth. I didn’t want to start from a point of evil, as it’s hard to bring someone back from that. He’s developed a crust around himself which has to be broken down for his redemption at the end.”
McKeag says he wants “everybody to find something about themselves in Scrooge” — even if that means looking deep inside yourself and making changes.
“If you fall short in any human category, I want you to be able to see yourself,” he said. “It’s never too late to change. It’s never too late to learn something, or to care more about your community…Calgary is a wealthy oil town, and Scrooge is a reminder for us of what can happen when you change, and get the chance to give your wealth away.
“The great luxury of having wealth is you can do something with it. Every town needs a reminder of that.”
A Christmas Carol runs at Theatre Calgary until December 31. Tickets are available here.
Aisling Murphy
Aisling is Intermission's senior editor and an award-winning arts journalist with bylines including the Toronto Star, Globe & Mail, CBC Arts, CTV News Toronto, and Maclean's. She likes British playwright Sarah Kane, most songs by Taylor Swift, and her cats, Fig and June. She was a 2024 fellow at the National Critics Institute in Waterford, CT.
LEARN MORE
iPhoto caption: The cast of Tunnel Runners. Photo by Aza Jin.
Tunnel Runners takes listeners on a podcast journey through Toronto’s hidden chasms
If you’re tempted to go spelunking and find out for yourself just what lies beyond the curve of a TTC tunnel, pop in your earbuds and press play on Tunnel Runners, a new seven-part original audio drama from CBC’s PlayME podcast.
UnCovered returns to Musical Stage Company with U2 and the Rolling Stones
“What you see in the audience is really the tip of a very long collaborative iceberg,” says Wong, artistic associate at Musical Stage Company and arranger, orchestrator, and music supervisor for UnCovered. “It’s a really diverse cast of voices and styles, and they’re all bringing their A-game. It’s starting to get really exciting in the room.”
iPhoto caption: Photo by Marc Chalifoux.
At Next Stage 2024, two shows complicate the meaning of a night out
Gemini, by Louise Casemore, and Prude, by Lou Campbell, explore the hospitality industry and bar culture from different perspectives.
iPhoto caption: Wonderful Joe production still by Ian Jackson.
‘What the hell do I do with all these puppets?’: Inside the wonderful world of Ronnie Burkett
“More than a few people said to me, ‘so this is your last show’,” says the legendary puppeteer ahead of his production of Wonderful Joe at TO Live. “Trust me, I never said this is my last show. I think that’s maybe a bit of ageism, or wishful thinking.”
iPhoto caption: King James production still by Dahlia Katz.
King James brings basketball — and bromance — to Theatre Aquarius
“Sports and theatre both hold extraordinary characters in extraordinary circumstances,” says director Haysam Kadri. “That’s what my favourite type of theatre is: Characters placed in such interesting circumstances, and seeing how they navigate the world.”
iPhoto caption: ROSA promotional image courtesy of RUTAS.
RUTAS redefines ‘American’ theatre and performance
“I think [Latinx artists] have always been a strong voice, but now we need to be even louder to the rest of Canada,” says multidisciplinary performance artist Carlos Rivera. “The things that we can bring to the table and bring to the stages can show the beauty, and the strain, and the capacities that Latino Americans carry with us in our bodies, in our minds, in our souls.”
iPhoto caption: Photo of Annemieke Wade courtesy of TAPA.
TAPA appoints Annemieke Wade as new executive director
Wade steps into the position with an extensive background in theatre, with past roles including executive director of Roseneath Theatre and Theatre Direct and company manager of Tarragon Theatre.
iPhoto caption: Beowulf in Afghanistan graphic courtesy of GCTC.
Beowulf in Afghanistan to make world premiere at GCTC
As part of its 50th anniversary season, Ottawa’s Great Canadian Theatre Company will program the world premiere of Laurie Fyffe’s Beowulf in Afghanistan, in a production directed by Company of Fools artistic director Kate Smith.
iPhoto caption: My Name Is Lucy Barton production still by Dahlia Katz.
REVIEW: Maev Beaty sparkles at the centre of a sparse My Name Is Lucy Barton
In Rona Munro’s adaptation, My Name Is Lucy Barton loses some bite; it’s debatable how well the idea works as a piece of theatre. That said, Beaty gleams in a rousing solo performance that showcases her range and emotional depth.
iPhoto caption: Interior Design production still by Jae Yang.
REVIEW: Interior Design sparkles with zillennial wit
Interior Design watches its Peloton-using, social media-obsessed heroines from an empathetic vantage point, holding space for these women and their problems.
UnCovered returns to Musical Stage Company with U2 and the Rolling Stones
“What you see in the audience is really the tip of a very long collaborative iceberg,” says Wong, artistic associate at Musical Stage Company and arranger, orchestrator, and music supervisor for UnCovered. “It’s a really diverse cast of voices and styles, and they’re all bringing their A-game. It’s starting to get really exciting in the room.”
iPhoto caption: Photo by Dahlia Katz.
REVIEW: The Thanksgiving Play wriggles in performative wokeness
In 2024, is there a way to produce an engaging, culturally sensitive play about the first American Thanksgiving for elementary schoolers? The Thanksgiving Play, penned by Native American playwright Larissa FastHorse and now playing at Mirvish’s CAA Theatre, poses that question in its first five minutes, then throws the query out with the cranberry sauce in its madcap exploration of a devised theatre piece at an unnamed primary school.
Comments