The timeless tale of Ebenezer Scrooge comes to thrilling new life as Tony Award® winner Jefferson Mays (I Am My Own Wife, Gentleman’s Guide…) plays over 50 roles in a virtuosic, master class of a performance that must be seen to be believed. This theatrical achievement comes from the haunting and hope-filled vision of one of Broadway’s most imaginative directors, Michael Arden (Tony-winning Best Revival – Once on this Island).
Arden moves his subject forward through each of Dickens' staves, but the production arrives nowhere. There is no unique point of view or revelation from this solo 'Carol,' which puts Mays' malleability to waste. The production skews gloomier than most modern retellings. A casket taunts us from center stage before the show begins. Then, a loud, booming sound (design by Joshua D. Reid) shocks us into action. Courtesy of lighting designer Ben Stanton, deep shadows envelop the stage - an effect which successfully relays a cinematic-like quality of ominousness, but unsuccessfully keeps its audience awake.
Creepy and antic, gloomy and giddy, Michael Arden's production capitalizes on every trick in Dickens's story and then pulls a few new ones out of Scrooge's top hat. Peace on earth? Mercy mild? Please. There are moments when you would swear that Mays couldn't possibly be unaccompanied, so raucous is this 'Carol.' But he is, more or less. (Danny Gardner briefly joins as a wordless specter.) Happily, Mays - who has also triumphed in multiple roles in 'I Am My Own Wife,' for which he won a Tony Award, and 'A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder' - is a master of manifold parts. If he were left alone, without lights, sound, projections or Dane Laffrey's curving, swerving set, he might put across this fable even more convincingly.
| 1994 | Off-Broadway |
Original Off-Broadway Production Off-Broadway |
| 1995 | Off-Broadway |
Return Engagement [off-Broadway] Off-Broadway |
| 1996 | Off-Broadway |
Return Engagement [off-Broadway] Off-Broadway |
| 1996 | Broadway |
Return Engagement Broadway |
| 1997 | Off-Broadway |
Return Engagement [off-Broadway] Off-Broadway |
| 1998 | Off-Broadway |
Return Engagement [off-Broadway] Off-Broadway |
| 1999 | Off-Broadway |
Return Engagement [off-Broadway] Off-Broadway |
| 2000 | Off-Broadway |
Return Engagement [off-Broadway] Off-Broadway |
| 2022 | Broadway |
Original Broadway Production Broadway |
| Year | Ceremony | Category | Nominee |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | Drama League Awards | Distinguished Performance Award | Jefferson Mays |
| 2023 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Lighting Design (Play or Musical) | Ken Elliott |
| 2023 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Solo Performance | Jefferson Mays |
| 2023 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Sound Design (Play or Musical) | Joshua D. Reid |
| 2023 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Video or Projection Design (Play or Musical) | Lucy Mackinnon |
| 2023 | Tony Awards | Best Lighting Design of a Play | Ben Stanton |
| 2023 | Tony Awards | Best Scenic Design of a Play | Dane Laffrey |
| 2023 | Tony Awards | Best Sound Design of a Play | Joshua D. Reid |
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