The national tour of Jack Thorne's adaptation of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol has canceled all remaining performances at Los Angeles' Ahmanson Theatre.
The production had initially canceled only the December 16 evening performance following breakthrough COVID-19 cases detected within the company, but then extended the closure through December 28. It has now decided that it will not complete the holiday engagement, originally scheduled to conclude January 1. Ticket holders will be contacted with rebooking or refund options. Visit CenterTheatreGroup.org for more information.
Bradley Whitford (recently seen as Stephen Sondheim in the film adaptation of Jonathan Larson's tick, tick… BOOM!) starred as Ebenezer Scrooge with Tony nominee Kate Burton (Hedda Gabler, The Elephant Man, The Constant Wife) as the Ghost of Christmas Past and Grammy nominee Alex Newell (Once On This Island, Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist) as the Ghost of Christmas Present/Mrs. Fezziwig.
The cast also included Chante Carmel as Mrs. Cratchit, Dashiell Eaves as Bob Cratchit, Brandon Gill as Fred, Evan Harrington as Fezziwig, Chris Hoch as Father/Marley, Sarah Hunt as Belle, Alex Nee as Ferdy/Nicholas, Sebastian Ortiz and Cade Robertson alternating as Tiny Tim, Brett Ryback as George, Harry Thornton as Young Ebenezer, Glory Yepassis-Zembrou as Little Fan, and Grace Yoo as Jess. Eaves, Gill, Harrington, Hoch, Hunt, Nee, Ortiz, and Rubin returned from the original Broadway cast.
Celia Mei Rubin was the standby for the roles of Jess and Mrs. Cratchit, and Andrew Mayer was a swing.
Obie winner Francois Battiste (The Good Negro at The Public Theater) is Scrooge in a separate San Francisco-based production through December 26. Jamie Manton directs.
A Christmas Carol opened at Broadway's Lyceum Theatre November 20, 2019, following several holiday runs at The Old Vic in London. The production won the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Adaptation and recently took home five 2020 Tony Awards: Best Original Score (Christopher Nightingale), Best Scenic Design of a Play (Rob Howell), Best Costume Design of a Play (Howell), Best Lighting Design of a Play (Hugh Vanstone), and Best Sound Design of a Play (Simon Baker).
A Christmas Carol was originally directed and conceived by Tony winner Matthew Warchus; the tour is helmed by Thomas Caruso. It has music direction by Remy Kurs, music supervision by Paul Staroba, music coordination by Howard Joines, casting by Jim Carnahan and Jason Thinger, and movement by Lizzi Gee.
