Broadway performers embodying one character is always a spectacular theatrical experience, but imagine bearing witness to one actor taking on 50 roles in a virtuosic performance. Jefferson Mays brings the timeless tale of Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol to life at the Nederlander Theatre doing just that.
Directed by Michael Arden and adapted by Mays, Arden, and Mays’s wife, Susan Lyons, this production of A Christmas Carol was first seen in 2018 at the Geffen Playhouse and was later filmed for streaming release during the pandemic. Now you can witness the phenomenon live once again in the heart of Time Square.
Anyone familiar with the beloved classic knows of Ebenezer Scrooge, a cold-hearted businessman that despises Christmas and the poignant meaning behind the holidays. One fateful evening, Scrooge is visited by the ghost of Christmas past, present, and future, redeeming himself during this epic voyage and changing his whole view of what is important in life.
Jefferson Mays can only be described as a beguiling Chameleon, quickly changing from role to role with ease, leaving the audience mesmerized. Not only is he the narrator telling the entire Charles Dickens story verbatim, but he is also Ebenezer Scrooge, Bob Cratchit, the Cratchit children, all the ghosts, and even โฆ a potato. With no costume changes during the 90-minute production, he manages to bring life to each character with voice alterations, changes of body language, and the help of the incredible lighting, scenic, projection, sound, and puppet design team.
The creative team for A Christmas Carol includes Dane Laffrey (scenic and costume design), Ben Stanton (lighting design), Lucy Mackinnon (projection design), Joshua D. Reid (sound design), Cookie Jordan (hair and makeup design), John Kristiansen (puppet design), Stephen Kopel (casting director), and Justin Scribner (associate director and production stage manager).
Those looking for a more unusual take on A Christmas Carol should head over to Nederlander Theater through January 1, 2023.
-Lauren Wire