A CHRISTMAS CAROL Comes to the Phoenix Theatre Company
This production reunites Director/Co-Adaptor Matthew Wiener and Adaptor Michael Grady with the score of the late composer and TPTC Resident Music Director, Alan Ruch.
By: Stephi Wild Dec. 04, 2025
The Phoenix Theatre Company welcomes the holiday season with a revitalized staging of A Christmas Carol, running November 26-December 28, 2025 in the new Dr. Stacie J. & Richard J Stephenson Theatre.
This reimagined production reunites Director/Co-Adaptor Matthew Wiener and Adaptor Michael Grady with the score of the late composer and longtime TPTC Resident Music Director, Alan Ruch, restored and expanded through orchestrations by Craig Bohmler.
The production builds on the long-running Actors Theatre version that left a lasting imprint on the Valley. The original production premiered at Actors Theatre, a professional company that had served the community for 29 years, and was lived through the people who performed it, watched it, and cherished its music. That lineage now continues, on a new stage shaped for bold ideas and sustained artistic growth.
"For years, audiences have talked about this adaptation with a sense of affection and pride," said TPTC Producing Artistic Director Michael Barnard. "Rebuilding it with the original team gives us the chance to acknowledge that connection and share a piece of Valley theatre history with new generations."
The musical charts Ebenezer Scrooge's Christmas Eve reckoning with the emotional clarity Charles Dickens intended, leaning into Ruch's dynamic score and the production's layered design. A Christmas Carol follows Scrooge as the Ghosts of Past, Present, and Future reveal the cost of a life kept at a distance from others.
Cast includes: Matravius Avent*, Shani Barrett*, Maggie Barry-Torres*, Geoffrey F. Belliston*, Jane Bunting*, Johanna Carlisle-Zepeda*, Trisha Ditsworth*, Connor Dunning*, Rusty Ferracane*, Teddy Ladley*, Eddie Maldonado*, Brianna McClure*, Kendrick Stallings*, Matt Villar*, D. Scott Withers*, plus youth performers Armand Delgado, Kambria Godfrey, Finn Haase, Tommy Hebel, Dominic Montufar, and Audra South. Understudies and swings include: Savannah Inez, Morgan Karam, Austin Stuart, and Ryan Monaghan. *Courtesy of Actors' Equity Association
"Alan Ruch translated Dickens' themes into music that carried wit, urgency, and emotional power," Grady said. "When the original score disappeared after his passing, we believed the final note had been played but people kept talking about the music."
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