A musical that ran for 10 years at the Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York City is coming to Orland Park for the holidays.
Orland Park Theatre Troupe stages “A Christmas Carol,” which tells the story of Ebenezer Scrooge, from Dec. 17-19 at the Cultural Center in the village.
“You have a man who hates Christmas because all of his Christmases in his past have been tainted by something bad happening and then you have an entire town in the city of London who talks about how much they spend on gifts and that sort of thing,” said Tyler McMahon, director of “A Christmas Carol.”
“Then you get the Cratchit family who have next to nothing and the only thing they care about is that they’re together. There’s a song in the show called ‘Christmas Together’ and it explains their philosophy of it really doesn’t matter what we have; it’s about the fact that we’re together and we love each other.
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“We’ve lost that idea of what Christmas is about or at least what the holiday season is supposed to be about. The holiday season is supposed to be about being together with your family, friends and loved ones, and the telling of the story is perfect.”
Based on Charles Dickens’ 1843 novella “A Christmas Carol,” the musical features music by Alan Menken (Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast” and “The Little Mermaid,” “Little Shop of Horrors”), lyrics by Lynn Ahrens (“Ragtime,” “Seussical, “Once on This Island”) and book by Ahrens and Mike Ockrent.
“It’s great music by Alan Menken, the man who wrote all the major music for Disney movies in the 1990s,” said McMahon of Bradley.
“It’s about 90 minutes. It’s not as long as most versions of ‘A Christmas Carol’ are. The songs are great. The dancing is fun. The characterizations the actors are getting are a lot of fun. I think most people don’t know this musical so they’re going to be coming in hearing stuff for the first time.
“I think people will really enjoy it.”
The show was adapted in 2004 for the TV film “A Christmas Carol: The Musical,” which premiered on NBC and stars Kelsey Grammer, Jesse L. Martin, Jane Krakowski, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Geraldine Chaplin and Jason Alexander.
The cast for Orland Park Theatre Troupe’s production of “A Christmas Carol” includes Frankfort, Kankakee, Manteno, Mokena, Orland Park and Plainfield residents.
“They’re very hardworking. This is not the easiest script because the music is timed to even the dialogue so we’re working out things and making sure to get this timing right. You have this amount of time to say these lines before the music cue comes up for the next signing parts,” McMahon said.
Another challenge for many of the actors is playing two and sometimes three roles in the show.
“There’s some slight symbolism is what characters double as some characters. Thomas Erhardt, who plays Young Scrooge also plays Fred, Scrooge’s nephew in present time. Angel Mirkov, who plays Emily — the girl that Scrooge was engaged to, plays his nephew’s wife in present time,” McMahon said.
“Scrooge doesn’t like his nephew because Fred looks so much like Scrooge when he was younger, and Scrooge hates his past and Fred’s married to a woman who looks like the woman Scrooge was in love with so there’s a little symbolism there.”
McMahon, who last directed “A Christmas Story” in December 2019 for Orland Park Theatre Troupe, said doing a virtual reading online of the play version of “A Christmas Carol” led to him remembering the musical version of the show and pitching that as his next production for the community theater group.
“We need to start to get back to somewhat of a normal routine with people and getting out into the public for events. A small amount of tickets are being sold. Come for an hour and a half and forget what’s going on in the rest of the world and just enjoy this story,” McMahon said.
“Everybody knows the story of ‘A Christmas Carol.’ Now you’re going to enjoy this particular adaptation, which is a musical with songs you’ll enjoy and a nice, deep message. Just come and enjoy this entertainment that we all need right now.”
‘A Christmas Carol’
When: 8 p.m. Dec. 18; Dec. 17, some Dec. 18 and Dec. 19 shows are sold out
Where: Cultural Center, 14760 Park Ave., Orland Park
Tickets: $16 ages 18-54; $14 ages 3-18 and 55 and older
Information: 708-403-6380; orlandpark.org/departments/recreation-parks/theatre
Jessi Virtusio is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.
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