Old Vic's A CHRISTMAS CAROL

[CT2NYC]

FYI, tickets are now on sale to the general public, and they still have some £10 tickets available, mainly for matinees.

https://www.oldvictheatre.com/availability/old-vic-in-camera/a-christmas-carol-5

[Wick3]

Thank you for this reminder! Note though that it's in GMT so the matinee of 1pm is really 8AM EST. That may be too early for Americans but for 10 GBP that's a good deal! Just bought my ticket!

I noticed Andrew Lincoln stars as Scrooge and am now even more excited! I remember him from TEACHERS and of course the iconic scene from Love Actually (can't believe that movie is 17 years ago!):

 

[Wick3]

Did anyone see the production at Geffen Playhouse starring Jefferson Mays and directed by Michael Arden? Was it really that good? Just saw they will have an online stream starting Nov 28th until Jan 3rd but looks like tickets are $50 and stream will last only for 24 hours. 

https://www.achristmascarollive.com/

[Wick3]

So I bought a ticket to watch the Old Vic production of Christmas Carol starring Andrew Lincoln next week and am so excited!

On their website I saw they had a PDF of activities to do with your children which I thought as so thoughtful! It even had a recipe for mince pie! Not sure if I'll do that but it made me think of perhaps baking something. lol.

https://cdn.oldvictheatre.com/uploads/2020/11/Activities.pdf

[Wick3]

Did anyone see this evening's performance (afternoon NYC time)? From their instagram it said over 4000 households across 80 countries watched it!!!!

https://www.instagram.com/p/CItj6o_DMUz/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

Prices ranged from 30-65 GBP each so even if all those 4000 households bought at the 30 GBP level that's over 100k GBP for one performance which is pretty good! With good worth of mouth the Old Vic hopefully will recoup. 

There were tickets priced at 10GBP level thanks to PwC's sponsorship but I think that ended in November. The lowest price I see now is 20GBP level during the matinees (8am EST NYC time). Note all ticket level prices are for the same view.

[Jordan Catalano]

I’m watching it this week. I’m so happy the Old Vic found a way to to make money right now. I’ll say yet again I see zero reason why The Public Theater and others here aren’t doing the same thing but I’m ecstatic that they’re successful at this.

[edmundog2]

Okay, that mincemeat pie recipe they gave out is trash because it literally just says to buy a jar of store-made mincemeat. Here, from memory, my recipe, which never fails me.

2 or 3 large apples, peeled and cut into chunks (I recommend Granny Smith, but whatever your favorite is is fine. But not Red Delicious, which is trash)

2.5 cups of dried fruit, split into five different half-cup servings. This year, I used dark raisins, golden raisins, currants, dried cranberries, and prunes. Dried blueberries, figs, cherries, and pineapple can also work. If it’s something big, like the prunes, slice it before adding it to the mix.

⅔ cup of dark brown sugar

4 tablespoons of unsalted butter

zest of one orange or lemon

1 cup apple juice, no added sugar

⅔ cup of lemon or orange juice. Or half and half. Oh, also squeeze in whatever you zested earlier.

½ teaspoon of cinnamon

½ teaspoon of nutmeg

¼ teaspoon of allspice

¼ teaspoon of cloves

¼ teaspoon of salt

Mix the ingredients together, plop all of the mixture into a big pot, and bring it to a boil, stirring frequently. Once it’s been brought to boiling, reduce it to a simmer and keep cooking it until most of the liquid is evaporated. Transfer to a covered bowl, and keep it in the refrigerator for at least 8 hours to properly congeal. 

This is delicious, and works not only in pies, but is really good in oatmeal. YOU ARE WELCOME.

[Wick3]

Just saw this evening's performance (6pm GMT, 1pm EST) is SOLD OUT! Wow! Very happy for the Old Vic. Looks like they're succeeding in this new media platform. I haven't read any critic reviews on Andrew Lincoln yet but from social media it looks like everyone has enjoyed this production of A Christmas Carol! 

[cjmclaughlin10]

Bought a $20 ticket at the last minute for this afternoon’s matinee. What a pleasant surprise this was!!!

After seeing so many productions of ACC, I didn’t think I needed to see another interpretation... but it was a nice way to spend a morning and support an institution I have always admired

[BeNice]

Agreed. It was so nice to see this and there is no reason US theatres should not be doing things like this at this caliber.

[jimmycurry01]

I purchased a ticket to watch the matinee this morning. While the performances and production itself seemed quite good, the filming and editing was not. The filming was often shaky and amateurish, and the editing constantly reminded me that I was watching the production on Zoom, with awkward boxes and split screen shots. This could have been presented so much better.

It has been interesting to see how various companies have chosen to film their streaming productions throughout the pandemic, and how mixed the results have been. At the risk of appearing like a scrooge, I do want to say that I have been very happy that various companies have been putting forth the effort to stream anything at all for us, and despite being a bit disappointed with this particular offering, I was still happy to support The Old Vic.

I will also add that if you are only going to watch one streaming version of A Christmas Carol this year, the one-man production featuring Jefferson Mays (though pricey) is truly stunning, and may be a better option than this one.

[Wick3]

I think the big difference between the Old Vic's christmas carol and Jefferson Mays version is the Old Vic's is streamed live (plus they sing several christmas carols throughout the play) so filming is a lot harder; whereas the Jefferson Mays version was filmed back in October and they had a month to edit and perfect it. I heard the Mays version may be available in one of the streaming sites sometime next year.

I applaud theatres who are trying and sharing their productions for all of us to see even if it's through zoom.

For a free version, 59e59 has a free streamed version available until tomorrow starring Raul Esparza as Scrooge.
https://www.59e59.org/shows/show-detail/virtual-reading-a-christmas-carol/#schedule-and-tickets
But if you go on the Primary Stages youtube channel you'll see the video uploaded on there.