Bah Hum...A Few Bars

The Colorado premiere of the Broadway hit A Christmas Carol, The Musical — with music by Alan Menken (Beauty and the Beast) and lyrics by Lynn Ahrens (Ragtime) — stays true to Charles Dickens’s original story but does not take the Scrooge-as-super-villain approach. “So many productions of A Christmas Carol...

By Drew Bixby

December 9, 2010

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The Colorado premiere of the Broadway hit A Christmas Carol, The Musical — with music by Alan Menken (Beauty and the Beast) and lyrics by Lynn Ahrens (Ragtime) — stays true to Charles Dickens’s original story but does not take the Scrooge-as-super-villain approach. “So many productions of A Christmas Carol tend to have that dark, almost gothic quality to them,” says artistic producer Rod A. Lansberry. “This is a much lighter approach.”

Scrooge, it turns out, wasn’t born cold-hearted. Through plenty of familiar dialogue but also a healthy dose of musical numbers, audiences will get “a much better idea of where Scrooge came from and why he became what he did,” he explains. With the largest cast (38 members) in Arvada Center history, the production is big from beginning to end — big opener, big finale and “some really big dance numbers,” promises Lansberry.

“The audience will come out totally uplifted about the season,” he adds. “I find it much more heartwarming, with sweet moments throughout. And, good or bad, the music is very hummable. It’s going to be stuck in some heads for a while.”

The Arvada Center is at 6901 Wadsworth Boulevard, and A Christmas Carol will play there every day of the week except Monday through December 23. Tickets range from $49 to $63; get them at www.arvadacenter.org or call 720-898-7200.
Tuesdays-Sundays. Starts: Nov. 23. Continues through Dec. 23, 2010

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