A Christmas Carol Returns to McCarter Theatre Center

Nothing says the holiday season is upon us like the annual interpretations of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. And, after a pandemic hiatus, theatres across the country are again lighting their stages to showcase the Christmas tale of redemption.

A perennial favorite for families in the Delaware Valley is McCarter Theatre Center’s annual production of A Christmas Carol. This year’s production marked the return of the celebrated classic after a 2-year pause, due to the pandemic.

The age-old tale follows Ebenezer Scrooge on his journey of Christmases past, present, and future. Directing the production this year was new director, Lauren Keating, who herself loved going to McCarter’s production of A Christmas Carol each year as a child. Not only did Keating direct the play, but she also developed and created a new adaptation based on her reading of the novel. And, Dee Pelletier starred as Scrooge, the first woman to do so at McCarter.

From a video production standpoint, this was a fun project because it gave me the opportunity to tap into my archival footage (see videos below). McCarter Theatre Center has been a client of mine since 2015, and I’ve always enjoyed filming the production. For the return of A Christmas Carol, I had the opportunity to do some behind-the-scenes videos interviewing long-time members of the production and creative teams who have worked on the annual show. We visited both the prop shop and the costume shop for an inside peek of the production. Archival video demonstrated the ever-changing nature of theatre adaptations throughout the years.

The show saw the return of crowds eager to see the theatre’s latest version of A Christmas Carol, which wraps up on December 24th.

Thanks to Jeff Baker for filming the final dress rehearsal with me for the trailer.

Up next for McCarter Theatre Center is a production called Between Two Knees, which opens in late January. For more information, check out McCarter’s website: mccarter.org.