‘A Christmas Carol, the Musical’ features different spin on Dickens’ literary classic
LUMBERTON – For the first time since 2018, “A Christmas Carol, the Musical” has returned to the area for a run on the stage of the Purple Door’s Studio Theatre.
This is an original version of Charles Dickens’ classic novella that weaves in underlying themes of family love and redemption while telling the story of a miserly old man named Ebenezer Scrooge.
The late Lee Yopp, a N.C. playwright of note and a former director of the now-defunct Fort Bragg Playhouse, created this particular musical take on the timeless tale.
Yopp wrote this version as a play with music, which draws heavily from traditional carols and Victorian music of the period.
“It was created for the military and their families for celebration before they went home during the Christmas holidays,” Jeanne Koonce, the artistic director of Purple Door Productions, said Tuesday.
According to a news release promoting the Purple Door Production show, “The world-renowned book comes to vivid life with beautiful Victorian costumes, glorious Christmas music and spectacular dance sequences, including an amazing Irish step dance. A company of over 20 local performers and singers bring traditional songs and carols to a new imagining of Dickens’ tale, while remaining faithful to the original novel.
“Join Tiny Tim, Scrooge and the Cratchits as we all discover the true ‘spirit’ of Christmas,” the release states.
“A Christmas Carol, the Musical” – which opened on Nov. 24 – continues with presentations scheduled December 1 at 7:30 p.m., December 2 at 3 p.m. and 7:30 p.m., and December 3 at 3 p.m.
Admission is $18 for adults, $10 for students ages 7 through 18, and $5 for children ages 6 years and under.
Discount pricing and reserved seating is offered for groups of 10 or more.
Tickets, which remain available, can be purchased by calling 910-224-4000 or going online at www.purpledoorproductions.square.site.
The theater, at 215 4th St., seats about 90 people in a standard theater format seating.
“This is a show I own,” Koonce said.
She said Yopp gave her the rights to this version of the Christmastime ghost story.
Previously, the show was staged here in 2016 and 2018.
As for the show cast, she said, many of them have performed onstage with Purple Door before. They also have found work in other community theaters, such as the Cape Fear Regional Theatre in Fayetteville. The cast ranges from third graders on up to mature adults.
Lance Carter, a veteran actor, hip-hop dancer and choreographer, is cast as Scrooge. Like Koonce, Carter is a founder of Purple Door Productions. He portrayed the father, Otto Frank, in the September Purple Door production of “The Diary of Anne Frank.”
Joy Malak, a third grader at Southeastern Academy in Lumberton, plays Tiny Tim.
Some of the songs in the show include the familiar holiday numbers “Silent Night” and “O Come, All Ye Faithful.” Other carols, such as “Ding Dong Merrily on High” and “Sleep O Holy Child,” originate from Britain and France, respectively.
“A Christmas Carol, the Musical” is supported by grants from the Robeson County Arts Council and N.C. Arts Council, a division of the Dept. of Natural and Cultural Resources.
