Dee Pelletier takes on the role of a lifetime in McCarter’s latest update of the family classic tale, “A Christmas Carol”. Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” has been part of McCarter’s holiday celebration for decades and one of the fruits of that delight is Lauren Keating, who directed, and personally adapted, the story for Princeton’s modern families. Keating was once one of the starry-eyed children who watched
the magic happen from the velvet theater seats, so this is an especially sweet production.
Opera is replete with “pants” roles – women playing men. Here, “Old Jo” takes a Gentleman Jack turn.
Other updated include the pair seeking alms of Mr. Scrooge is now female and the Cratchits are a blended family in the best possible way. In fact, a family of many cultures among the most resource- challenged would have been common. Then, as now, it is love that makes a family even more than shared ancestry.
While I admit, I miss some of the derring-do of Christmases past – like the dazzling gown and gyrating stair of the Ghost of Christmast Present (my eyes glist’ning slightly), my heart sang every single time I felt another family see representation in each of the updates that makes this a Carol a Holiday classic for all times – then and now.
This show closes Christmas Eve and McCarter has more dazzle to razzle in 2023. There’s no present like the time, so buy your tickets now for a Holiday tradition, evergreen. Contact the box office at www.McCarter.org.