Pittsburgh CLO Opens ‘A Musical Christmas Carol’ at the Byham (Fri., 12/15/23)

A MUSICAL CHRISTMAS CAROL (play with music) by David H. Bell, from the Dickens story. December 15 – 23. Pittsburgh CLO.

Tiny Tim experiences the joy of the holidays in Pittsburgh CLO’s ‘A Musical Christmas Carol.’

Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol is considered schmaltz by some but high art by many others. In Japan, the novella has been viewed as one of the great works of English literature—“possibly in a league with Hamlet,” as one Japanese scholar wrote. Distinguished actors who’ve played Ebenezer Scrooge range from Lionel Barrymore to, memorably, Michael Caine in The Muppet Christmas Carol, with Kermit and Miss Piggy as Bob and Mrs. Cratchit. In Pittsburgh CLO’s production of A Musical Christmas Carol, Scrooge is played this year by Broadway veteran Michael Cerveris, a two-time Tony Award winner (for his roles as John Wilkes Booth in Assassins and the dad in Fun Home). The Cratchits are Aaron Galligan-Stierle and Lisa Ann Goldsmith, while Daniel Krell appears as both Marley’s ghost and young, very-much-alive Marley. The latter was not in Dickens’ original story but he shows up here because CLO uses an adaptation by American playwright David H. Bell, who added scenes that help to flesh out the narrative nicely. A Musical Christmas Carol plays at the Byham Theater, 101 6th St., Cultural District. (M.V.)

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