A CHARLES DICKENS CHRISTMAS Set for Winter Rhythms Festival at Urban Stages Tonight

WINTER RHYTHMS, the annual festival and fundraising event produced by Urban Stages Theater in New York City, will present a concert version of A CHARLES DICKENS CHRISTMAS, a family musical about Charles Dickens's personal struggles with writing A Christmas Carol. Through an unexpected "muse," Dickens comes to understand his own troubled youth, ultimately learning the true meaning of Christmas and finding the inspiration for this immortal holiday classic. The concert will take place tonight and Saturday, December 10 and 12, 2015.

The creators include: Tom Toce (Lyricist) a veteran theater and MAC Award-winning cabaret songwriter whose compositions have been sung and/or recorded by cabaret stars Andrea Marcovicci, Tovah Feldshuh, Maude Maggart, KT Sullivan; Douglas J. Cohen (Composer) a Fred Ebb and Richard Rodgers Awards recipient whose shows include No Way to Treat a Lady, The Gig, and the upcoming world premieres Mann...And Wife, and Bridges; Robert Owens Scott (Book) who has won a New York Emmy as a TV producer and a Folio: Gold Award as a magazine editor.

The musical will be directed by Don Stephenson who was in the original cast of A CHARLES DICKENS CHRISTMAS before gaining success as a director, most recently helming Guys and Dolls at Goodspeed Opera House, Vanya, Sonia, Masha, and Spike at Paper Mill Playhouse, and the TITANIC reunion concert at Lincoln Center. Music Director Lawrence Yurman worked on Grey Gardens and It Shoulda Been You on Broadway

The cast includes Ryan Silverman (Passion) as Charles, Tony Sheldon (Tony nominee for Priscilla Queen of the Desert) as John Dickens, Lisa O'Hare (A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder) as the Muse, Nancy Anderson (Yank!) as Elizabeth Dickens, Jay Frisby as the Chapman and Mickey Ryan as Tim Trotwood.

Originally produced by Theatreworks USA, the show toured the country for several years, then entered the MTI catalogue, where it has received numerous productions all over the world. Stephen Holden, writing in The New York Times, noted that the show, "takes on deeper psychological overtones as it explores the relation between memory and creativity" and found it, "uncommonly sober-minded and refreshingly devoid of glitz and overblown sentiment."

This sophisticated, uplifting, one-hour family musical will be enjoyed by children (10 and above) and parents alike.

IF YOU GO:

A CHARLES DICKENS CHRISTMAS

URBAN STAGES, 259 West 30th Street

Thursday, DECEMBER 10 at 7pm

Saturday, DECEMBER 12 at 3pm

Tickets: $25

Call: 1-866-811-4111

To order tickets online, visit: www.urbanstages.org

or

For Thursday, December 10 at 7 pm
https://web.ovationtix.com/trs/pe.c/10049991