Great Lakes Theater Festival Presents A CHRISTMAS CAROL 12/4-23

The stage of the Ohio Theatre, PlayhouseSquare will glow with good spirits and time-honored tradition when Great Lakes Theater Festival (GLTF) presents its twenty-first annual production of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol, running December 4 - 23, 2009. The production has delighted more than 525,000 people in its history, making it one of Northeast Ohio's most-loved and best-attended holiday events.

Great Lakes Theater Festival's forty-eighth season is presented with generous support from The Cleveland Foundation and the Ohio Arts Council. In addition, the Festival is generously funded by the citizens of Cuyahoga County through Cuyahoga Arts and Culture. A Christmas Carol's media sponsor is Soft Rock 102.1 F.M. WDOK. GLTF's Season Media Sponsors are Cleveland Scene, The Plain Dealer, WCLV 104.9 FM, WCPN 90.3 FM ideastream and WKSU 89.7 FM.

Director Andrew May, will stage former GLTF Artistic Director Gerald Freedman's heartwarming adaptation of A Christmas Carol. The production features a multi-generational cast of actors, singers and dancers led by longtime Festival company member Aled Davies, returning for his second season in the role of miserly Ebenezer Scrooge.

"It's exciting for us as a company of artists to revisit this great classic holiday story," said Andrew May, who will stage this season's production. "We are blessed with an immensely talented cast and a wonderful adaptation that we can't wait to share. I am overjoyed to return to direct a piece of theater again this season that has meant as much to this company and to this community as has A Christmas Carol for over two decades."

GLTF Producing Artistic Director Charles Fee remarked, "The combination of Gerald Freedman's inspired and moving adaptation, Andrew May's dynamic gifts as a director, our remarkable design team and our talented company are sure to delight audiences, whether they're attending for the first time or returning to experience this holiday tradition again with friends and family."

Freedman's adaptation of A Christmas Carol is presented as a story within a story. The fictitious Cleaveland family gathers in its Victorian-era parlor on Christmas Eve to read Mr. Dickens' book. As Mrs. Cleaveland reads the story to her family, her youngest child, Master William, re-imagines familiar faces as characters in the story: the Cleaveland's crotchety manservant becomes Scrooge; Father becomes Bob Cratchit; Mother becomes Belle, and the Cleaveland children become the Cratchits, with Master William becoming the beloved Tiny Tim. In all, more than 60 Dickens characters are brought to life on stage.

The Festival's production incorporates theatrical special effects to retain a strong sense of the supernatural, emphasizing the novel's origins in folk tales and myth. Designers for the GLTF production blend exceptional stagecraft with dramatic effects that evoke the magical and mysterious aspects of a classic ghost story.

Great Lakes Theater Festival's twenty-first annual production of A Christmas Carol commences on Friday, December 4th at 7:30 p.m. at the Ohio Theatre, PlayhouseSquare. Curtain times for all evening performances will remain at 7:30 p.m., with a 1:30 p.m. curtain time for Saturday, Tuesday and Wednesday matinees and a 3:00 p.m. curtain time for Sunday matinees. An audio-described performance is scheduled for Sunday, December 6th at 3:00 p.m. A sign-interpreted performance is scheduled for Sunday, December 13th at 3:00 p.m. (Click here for a complete performance calendar.)

Single tickets for Great Lakes Theater Festival's production of A Christmas Carol range in price from $28-$59 (student tickets $26 - any performance / any seat) and are available by calling
(216) 241-6000, by ordering online at www.greatlakestheater.org or by visiting The PlayhouseSquare Ticket Office. Groups of ten or more receive discounts and should call (216) 241-5490 x302 to make reservations. (Click here to order tickets online.)

Since 1962, Great Lakes Theater Festival has brought the pleasure, power and relevance of classic theater to the widest possible audience in Northern Ohio. The first resident company of PlayhouseSquare, Great Lakes Theater Festival has called the Theatre District home since 1982.

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