A Christmas Carol

Principal Roles

NARRATOR

EBENEZER SCROOGE

FRED

BOB CRATCHIT

JACOB MARLEY

THE GHOST OF CHRISTMAS PAST/ MRS. EMILY CRATCHIT

THE GHOST OF CHRISTMAS PRESENT/ SOLICITOR 1/ MR. FEZZIWIG

THE GHOST OF CHRISTMAS YET TO COME/ YOUNG SCROOGE

MRS. FEZZIWIG

CLARA

BELLE

SOLICITOR 2

PETER CRATCHIT

BELINDA CRATCHIT

TINY TIM CRATCHIT

MARTHA CRATCHIT

IGNORANCE

WANT

MRS. DILBUR

OLD JOE

GENTLEMAN 1-3

OLD WOMAN

BOY 1-3

GHOSTLY DANCER 1-4

SONG LIST:

PAT-A-PAN

APPLE TREE WASSAIL

A DREAM WITHIN A DREAM (THE LULLABY OF THE GHOST OF CHRISTMAS PAST)

FEZZIWIG'S BALL DANCE

WASSAIL

BOAR'S HEAD CAROL

APPLE TREE WASSAIL (REPRISE)

WE WISH YOU A MERRY CHRISTMAS

TOMORROW SHALL BE MY DANCING DAY

ISN'T IT GRAND , BOYS?

GOD REST YE MERRY GENTLEMEN

THE LITTLE CHILD

WE WISH YOU A MERRY CHRISTMAS (FINALE)

A Christmas Carol

Act 1: Scene 1

(The show opens to a busy street on Christmas morning. Various members of the ensemble are walking onto and off of the stage. There are several people wheeling carts, selling their Christmas frivolities and luxuries. The NARRATOR enters, indistinguishable from the townspeople, and begins to sing.)

NARRATOR:

WILLIE, TAKE YOUR LITTLE DRUM,

ROBIN, TAKE YOUR FLUTE AND COME,

WHEN WE HEAR THE TUNE YOU PLAY,

TU-RE-LU-RE-LU, PAT-A-PAT-A-PAN,

WHEN WE HEAR THE TUNE YOU PLAY HOW CAN ANYONE BE GLUM?

NARRATOR + ENSEMBLE:

WHEN THE MEN OF OLDEN DAYS

TO THE KING OF KINGS GAVE PRAISE,

ON THE FIFE AND DRUM DID PLAY,

TU-RE-LU-RE-LU, PAT-A-PAT-A-PAN

ON THE FIFE AND DRUM DID PLAY,

SO THEIR HEARTS WERE GLAD AND GAY!

AS THE INSTRUMENTS ALL PLAY,

DO YOU FEEL IT'S CHRISTMAS DAY?

WHEN YOU HEAR THE FIFE AND DRUM

TU-RE-LU-RE-LU, PAT-A-PAT-A-PAN

WHEN YOU HEAR THE FIFE AND DRUM

KNOW THAT CHRISTMAS DAY HAS COME!

Narrator: Very good, chaps. Now, a happy Christmas to all of you.

Various members of Ensemble: Yes, a very happy Christmas indeed!

Narrator: Gather ye round, my children, and listen to my story. See , it all began on a Christmas Eve, some years ago…

(The stage turns to darkness. Exit Ensemble. The NARRATOR moves to the farthest extremity of the stage, still in view of the audience but not much. Enter various ensemble members, walking up and down the streets. They beckon each other a "Happy Christmas" as they walk by each other. At this time, the Scrooge and Marley office set should be brought on, with part of the stage as the office and most of it the outside city. EBENEZER SCROOGE sits at his desk and writes with a quill on a piece of parchment. Enter BOB CRATCHIT, who opens the door.)

Narrator: Marley was dead, to begin with. As dead as a doornail. In fact, it had been seven years ago this very Christmas Eve during which he died. Before that, this place had been known as Scrooge and Marley, and Marley's death came as no great loss to anyone except this man, Ebenezer Scrooge. Mr. Scrooge was always quite businesslike, however, giving his old business partner very little mourning.

Boy 1: Happy Christmas, sir!

Bob: Happy Christmas to you too. (He enters the office, and immediately falls silent. He sits down at his desk, hoping SCROOGE doesn't notice he is tardy.)

Scrooge: Bob Cratchit.

Bob: (freezing in place) Y-yes, Mr. Scrooge?

Scrooge: Why are you so tardy to work this afternoon?

Bob: It is Christmas Eve, sir.

Scrooge: Ah, I see. So you choose to spend your Christmas holiday in the unemployment line.

Bob: No, Mr. Scrooge, I do not.

Scrooge: Then kindly see that this is your last tardy for as long as you are employed under me.

Bob: Yes, sir.

(Enter FRED. He is a bright and cheery fellow, holding a wreath in one hand and his hat in another.)

Fred: Merry Christmas, Uncle!

Scrooge: Christmas. Bah, Humbug!

Fred: Surely you don't mean that, Uncle. Christmas, a humbug?

Scrooge: Every fool who goes about with a "Merry Christmas" on his lips should be cooked with his own turkey, and buried with a stake of holly through his heart.

Fred: What right have you to be dismal? You're rich enough.

Scrooge: And what right have you to be merry? You're poor enough.

Fred: Well, Uncle, even though it's never put a scrap of gold or silver in my pocket, I believe Christmas has done me good, and will do me good, and I say God Bless It!

(BOB stands up and claps excitedly at this last statement. SCROOGE stares angrily at him until he slowly sits down, resigned.)

Scrooge: Nephew, you keep Christmas in your own way, and let me keep it in mind.

Fred: Have dinner tomorrow, with me and Clara.

Scrooge: Why ever did you get married?

Fred: Why? Because I fell in love!

Scrooge: (laughing) That's the only thing I've ever heard that's sillier than a Merry Christmas!

Fred: It's no use, Uncle. I shall keep my Christmas humor to the very last. The invitation will stand for every year to come. So, to you, a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Bob: Happy Christmas, Fred.

Fred: Happy Christmas, Bob.

(Fred exits the office. He runs into two boys outside, and he stops them, digs through his pockets, and produces two coins, he gives one to each boy. The boys go up to the office door.)

Boy 1: (knocks on the door)

Scrooge: (Gets up to open the door, and spots the boy.) What do you want?

Boy 1: Penny for the song of it?

Scrooge: (slams the door) Bah. Humbug!

(The BOYS walk away, heads down. Enter the SOLICITORS. They walk up to the office door, and knock.)

Scrooge: It's open.

Narrator: Now, It was customary that well-meaning gentlemen to call upon businesses so as to obtain donations to the poor and the homeless.

Solicitor 1: Do I have the pleasure of addressing Mr. Scrooge or Mr. Marley?

Scrooge: Mr. Scrooge. As it would happen, Mr. Marley has been dead these past seven years.

Solicitor 2: I am sorry to hear that.

Solicitor 1: At this festive season of the year, Mr. Scrooge, many of us feel obligated so that we should help our poor and homeless. A small donation is all we ask. Now, what may I put you down for?

Scrooge: Nothing.

Solicitor 2: You wish to remain anonymous? Your kindness to remain unacknowledged?

Scrooge: I wish to be left alone, since you asked what I wish. I do not make merry myself at Christmas, nor can I afford to make idle people merry.

Solicitor 1: But sir, think of the children!

Scrooge: Well, are there no prisons? Poor-houses?

Solicitor 1: Plenty of those, sir.

Scrooge: My taxes go to support such places, the poor must go there.

Solicitor 2: But many cannot go there, and many would rather die!

Scrooge: If they would rather die, then they better do it! And decrease the surplus population! Now, I have many things to attend to this afternoon. Good day to you, sirs.

Solicitor 1: Oh, dear. Come along, it seems we have taken up enough of Mr. Scrooge's time.

(They exit.)

Narrator: Now, each day was quite the same in Scrooge's office, he and his clerk worked until the very last, each and every day. As night time fell, this Christmas Eve had proven to be no different.

Cratchit: Excuse me, sir, but it would appear to be closing time.

Scrooge: So it is. You will want the whole day tomorrow, I suppose?

Cratchit: It is Christmas Day, sir.

Scrooge: A poor excuse for picking a man's pocket every year. But I suppose it cannot be helped. Take the day.

Cratchit: Yes, sir! Oh, thank you sir!

Scrooge: Be here all the earlier the next morning!

Cratchit: Of course, sir!

(Cratchit exits. Scrooge gathers his things, and walks out the door. As the office set disappears, it becomes the busy city streets at night. He walks in between crowds of people.)

Narrator: As hard and cold and stingy as this man was, his mind was not as such. Each day, Mr. Scrooge found it more and more difficult to distinguish reality from memory.

(BELLE and YOUNG SCROOGE enter. They stand directly across from each other, illuminated by a spotlight, and visible seemingly only to Scrooge. The "Apple Tree Wassail" plays in the background, a slow, light version and the two dance slowly with each other. SCROOGE makes a motion to reach for them, and as he does this, the spotlight turns to him and the vision fades. He brushes it off and makes his way through the city once more.)

Narrator: Now, it is very important that we remember that Marley was dead, to begin with; as dead as a doornail. If we do not consider this, none of the events that follow will seem wondrous.

(SCROOGE reaches his door. He turns the key in the lock, and freezes.)

Narrator: There was nothing very peculiar about the knocker on Mr. Scrooge's house, except that it was very large. Scrooge often passed right by it without looking. So how is it, then, that on this Christmas Eve, no more significant than any other day to this man; when Scrooge looked upon the knocker, he saw: not a knocker, but Marley's face.

(The door lights up with a vision of Marley's face. Scrooge jumps backwards, obviously frightened by the vision. THE GHOST OF JACOB MARLEY can be seen slightly, upstage left, pulled seemingly downwards by chains. He disappears as the vision of the knocker disappears.)

Scrooge: Humbug!

(He goes into the house. Enter MRS. DILBUR, the housemaid.)

Mrs. Dilbur: Good even'n, Mr. Scrooge!

Scrooge: Says who, madam?

Mrs. Dilbur: Your pot o' gruel is on the stove. I'll be going up to make your bed now.

Scrooge: Yes, yes, begone. Stupid woman.

Mrs. Dilbur: (pretending not to hear, and walking over to the bedroom set.) Stupid man! And 'e calls me stupid. Well, never the mind.

(She begins to make the bed. As she does, the GHOSTLY DANCERS enter and begin circling around her. She obviously is not aware of their presence. One of the dancers rings a bell. She turns about, looking for the source of the noise, stops, and continues making the bed. The same dancer rings the bell much louder and longer this time, and Mrs. Dilbur screams. She once again decides her imagination is playing tricks on her, and continues her chore. As she sets the sheet down on the bed, the other dancer picks up the sheet, and the other rings the bell. Mrs. Dilbur sees these both, panics, and runs out of the house, screaming, right past Scrooge, who shrugs and settles in to bed.)

Scene 2

(The clock strikes. Scrooge is startled awake by a sudden cold breeze, and, seeing that his window is open, goes to close it. After it is closed, he heads back to bed. A GHOSTLY DANCER comes in and opens the window, and music plays as he does. Scrooge once again shivers, looks at the window, and goes to shut it. As he gets up, a bell rings.)

Scrooge: Who's there?

(Silence.)

Scrooge: Stupid bloody wind.

(BELLS.)

Scrooge: Who are you? Show yourself!

(Silence.)

Scrooge: I shall not be made a fool of!

(Scrooge goes back to bed.)

Scrooge: HUMBUG!

(BELLS.)

Scrooge: Humbug! Humbug!

(Enter THE GHOST OF JACOB MARLEY, floating above the ground.)

Marley: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!

Scrooge: (Scared, cowering) Who-who are you?

Marley: Ask me who I was.

Scrooge: Who were you, then?

Marley: In life I was your partner, Jacob Marley.

Scrooge: Humbug.

Marley: You don't believe in me.

Scrooge: Why should I? The smallest disorder of the stomach can make them cheat. You may be an undigested blob of mustard. A crumb of cheese! An underdone potato! Yes, there's more of gravy than a grave about you!

(Marley wails and flies towards Scrooge at a high speed. Scrooge cowers in the corner, yelling.)

Marley: DO YOU BELIEVE IN ME, OR NOT?

Scrooge: I do! Oh, blessed Jacob, I do! But why do spirits walk the earth, and why do they trouble me?

Marley: I have come to warn you.

Scrooge: Of what, Jacob?

Marley: Of this! (He rattles the chains.)

Scrooge: What are these terrible chains?

Marley: These are the chains I forged in life, by my misguided acts and black heart. You wear such a chain yourself.

Scrooge: I see nothing.

Marley: (Wails, sending Scrooge into a trembling fit again) If a man does not walk amongst his fellows in life, he is condemned to do so after death.

Scrooge: You were not as such, Jacob. You were always a good man of business.

Marley: (Disdainfully cackling) BUSINESS! Mankind was my business! Generosity and good will were my business! Money, riches…they are only meaningful in life. And even in life, they are not all they promise to be.

Scrooge: Oh, Jacob, speak kind words to me Jacob!

Marley: I have none. If you continue the way you are, your chain shall be even fuller than my own. But I come to offer you one chance of escaping my fate.

Scrooge: Anything, Jacob! Anything!

Marley: You will be haunted by three spirits.

Scrooge: In that case…I'd rather not.

Marley: (Wails again.) EXPECT THE FIRST GHOST TONIGHT, WHEN THE BELL TOLLS ONE! Expect the second the next night upon the stroke of two! The third, the next night, when the clock strikes three!

Scrooge: Couldn't I have them all at once, and get it over with?

Marley: When the bell tolls one!

(The light fades on Marley, and he exits.)

Narrator: The ghost of Jacob Marley faded into the blackness, leaving Scrooge quite alone in his room. Scrooge thought to himself about what Marley had said. And he came to one conclusion.

Scrooge: Humbug!

(Scrooge goes to bed, checking the clock. He seemingly falls asleep. The NARRATOR moves center-stage.)

Narrator: Scrooge sunk into the silence of a dreamless sleep, in anticipation of Marley's warning. He did not, of course, believe it, but just in case…

(The clock tolls. Scrooge jerks awake.)

Scrooge: Quarter Past.

(Toll.)

Scrooge: Half past…

(Toll.)

Scrooge: (Whimpering)A quarter to it?

(Toll.)

Scrooge: The hour itself!

(Scrooge gets up and looks around, looking for any sign of anything. He sees nothing, and laughs to himself. As he gets back in bed, a GHOSTLY DANCER opens the window. Scrooge mumbles quietly and goes to close it, but as he gets close, THE GHOST OF CHRISTMAS PAST enters. SHE is a young woman in all white, with a wreath of holly around her head who seemingly floats on air. SHE glides on stage and begins her song.)

Past:

I ARISE FROM DREAMS OF YOURS

IN THE FIRST SWEET SLEEP OF NIGHT

WHEN THE WINDS ARE BREATHING LOW,

AND STARS ARE SHINING BRIGHT.

IN YOUR DREAMS, DO I TAKE FORM,

FROM SHAPES SO SMALL AND HUGE,

AND I FLOW THROUGH TIME AND PLACE,

AND TO THY WINDOW, SCROOGE.

IN A NIGHT, OR IN A DAY,

IN A VISION OR IN NONE,

IS IT THEREFORE THE LESS GONE?

IS ALL THAT WE SEE OR SEEM

BUT A DREAM WITHIN A DREAM?

(Scrooge is clearly taken aback by this young woman's appearance. He struggles to find the words.)

Scrooge: Are you the spirit who's coming was foretold to me?

Past: I am.

Scrooge: Who…what…are you?

Past: I am the Ghost of Christmas Past.

Scrooge: Long Past?

Past: No…your past.

Scrooge: What brings you to me?

Past: Concern, for your welfare.

Scrooge: A night's unbroken rest might better aid my welfare.

Past: Your reclamation then. Take heed and come.

Scrooge: Spirit, I am a mere mortal, and liable to fall.

Past: But a touch of my hand and you shall be upheld, in more than this.

(He takes hold of her hand, and is swept out of the window, seemingly floating with her. She hums "A Dream Within A Dream" as they circle the stage. They descend into the past.)