Here We Come A Caroling

I don't know what it is about the holidays that makes you want to watch shows, movies, and performances you've already seen a bunch of times. A combination of nostalgia and tradition, I suppose. But we're all sucked in.

As the first Christmas in our new home approaches, I decided that we'd have to take at least one evening to decorate and, of course, watch the obligatory holiday specials (It's A Wonderful Life, A Charlie Brown Christmas, etc.).  The TV special was frequently at the center of my family holiday memories, though I did make it to Radio City Music Hall with my grandmother a few times.

But aside from a trip to see the uber-sarcastic Santaland Diaries, I haven't made it to any of the long list of Nutcracker Suite, Messiah, and A Christmas Carol performances around the state this month. Fortunately, our fabulous art director Donna Panagakos went not quite over the river and through the woods to McCarter Theatre in Princeton. Her husband, Bill, sends this report:

I’ll be the first to admit I’m not much of theater guy.  In fact, were you to ask me what my five all-time movies are, my answers would include an obligatory Rambo flick, one or two spaghetti westerns, and a movie that starred the current governor of California. For the past four years, however, my wife and I have taken our two daughters for a mid-December car ride down Route 206 to take in A Christmas Carol at the McCarter Theatre in what has become a Christmas Eve family tradition.  This year would provide a slight twist; instead of our usual 5 p.m. December 24th performance, we selected opening night as a means to inject an early dose of holiday spirit.

No doubt you have seen this Charles Dickens classic on many a Christmas Day as it remains a standard offering on television at this time of year.  It’s the story of Ebenezer Scrooge, a lonely, cold-hearted London businessman who discovers the true meaning of Christmas with the help of three spirits. And although a number of fine actors have assumed the lead role, including Alastair Sim, George C. Scott and Mr. Magoo, to experience a stage performance of this holiday classic at the McCarter Theatre is a gift you would be wise to invest in. Although the names of the actors listed within the program have changed over the past four years, one thing remains constant: The overall performance has always been lively and dynamic, and this adaptation takes us on a wonderful ride.

I laugh each time old Fezziwig and his wife throw their Christmas Eve party (in an attempt to “match make” their daughter with either a young Scrooge or Marley), and I shed a few tears in the final scene between an older Scrooge and Tiny Tim.  The McCarter performance is also enhanced by a state-of-the-art sound system and a very detailed and imaginative set design (watch for the door knocker on the front of Scrooge’s home in the opening act).

To steal a line from the ghost of Jacob Marley as he visits Ebenezer Scrooge on that fateful Christmas Eve in 1843, “do not doubt your senses." An evening at the McCarter Theatre to see A Christmas Carol is an experience your senses will truly appreciate this holiday season.

Maybe I'll just have to take a break from the television this year and check it out. We can start a new tradition of our own.

Tags: theater | Princeton | Christmas | Central New Jersey | Princeton | McCarter Theatre | McCarter Theater