PLATTSBURGH — Halloween ghouls, goblins and spooks make way for the holiday hauntings of “A Christmas Carol,” the greatest ghost story of all time.
Anthony Palermo’s adaptation of Charles Dickens’ classic is perfected in the Adirondack Regional Theatre’s production of “A Christmas Carol,” a live radio broadcast complete with musical underscoring, immersive sound effects and a cast of nine onstage at the Strand Center Theatre, 7:30 p.m., Dec. 16, in Plattsburgh.
“It’s a very cool piece,” director Tom Lavin said.
“A gentleman by the name of Anthony Palermo made his own adaptation of the Charles Dickens’ novella. So, he not only wrote roughly about an hour play, he also wrote the accompanying music and some of the sound effects.
“It’s a very cool part that way that’s he’s got a little bit of everything in there. The nice part is we got a core of nine actors, whose faces should be very familiar to a lot of people in the area. They will be playing all the various characters in that novella.”
Some of Plattsburgh’s favorite actors will be voicing Scrooge, Marley, the 3 Ghosts of Christmas and, of course, Tiny Tim.
The cast includes: Neil Battinelli, Tiana Saroj, Justin Ihne, Andy Ducharme, Mia Young, Marie Folley, Brett Hughes, Mark Preston and Samantha Seymour.
SYNOPSIS
“A Christmas Carol” spins the timeless story of Ebenezer Scrooge, the inveterate miser from London who learns the meaning of charity and kindness over the course of one miraculous Christmas Eve, complete with visitations by three Ghosts of Christmas (Past, Present and Future), a heartwarming reconciliation with his nephew Fred and, of course, a surprise gift and visit to the Cratchits, where he’s welcomed by his longtime clerk Bob and his resilient and irrepressible son, the one and only Tiny Tim.”
KEEP CONTROL
The actors somewhat memorize their lines.
“It is a thing where we will have music stands up, and everybody will have their scripts in front of them, obviously, to keep control of all the different characters in the play,” Lavin said.
“Only Scrooge plays the same character all the way through. Everybody is playing various people, so it helps to remember who you are at the time.”
This year’s presentation follows in the footsteps of the earlier holiday live radio play productions presented by Adirondack Regional Theatre at the Strand Center Theatre of “It’s a Wonderful Life” in 2021 and 2019.
“We’ve never done A Christmas Carol,” Lavin said.
“We did ‘It’s A Wonderful Life,’ the same basic idea, it was a radio play. But, this is the first time we’re doing A Christmas Carol that way.
“The challenges are any time you are doing a story that everybody knows is how to keep it fresh. I think our actors are pulling that off. The radio play itself is kind of an interesting concept because, yes you are looking at the folks.”
There is basically not much in the way of a set and not much in the way of costumes.
“Because they just add an accessory or two because, again, they are playing multiple characters,” Lavin said.
“So, keeping them on track as far as who they are playing, keeping it visually stimulating to an audience. I believe the aural portion of it is definitely going to be riveting with the different voices, the music, the sound effects, that all brings it together and makes for quite the evening.”