1/7/2024 0 Comments Facebook photo theater loop![]() This mid-sized venue was located directly across the street from the Neo-Classical style department store building that began its life as Rothschild’s, then the Davis Store, then Goldblatt’s and is today the Loop campus of DePaul University. The theatre was designed by the architectural duo of Marshall & Fox, who also designed the earlier legitimate Blackstone Theatre (now the Merle Reskin), the Blackstone Hotel and, later, Chicago’s famed Drake Hotel. a-christmas-carol.The Rialto Theatre opened in 1917 as a venue for vaudeville and motion pictures, near the corner of S. Performances are Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m., Sundays at 2 p.m. 24 at Hartford Stage, 50 Church St., Hartford. “A Christmas Carol: A Ghost Story of Christmas” runs through Dec. It’ll still bring joy to your heart and tears to your eyes.Īfter three years away, these spirits can still work their magic all in one night. It’s still a crowd of adorable kids and an ideal first theater experience for kids in the audience. It’s still a reverent adaptation of a Dickens classic. So is the care that Hartford Stage has shown in bringing back “A Christmas Carol: A Ghost Story of Christmas.” It’s still a corker of a ghost story. Gilmore’s Scrooge’s sheer joy in his overnight transformation from curmudgeon to community-builder is palpable. T Charles EricksonAllen Gilmore’ Scrooge drinks with John-Andrew Morrison’s Spirit of Christmas Present, with Akilah Hadjsalem as Want and Logan Gordon-Gay as Ignorance at their feet. For a character that undergoes such an immense psychological change in a matter of hours, Gilmore amazingly finds a throughline, one that has him squabbling with ghosts and growing increasingly impatient even as his tough attitude is softening. You might have caught Gilmore at Yale Rep over the years in everything from “Accidental Death of an Anarchist” to “Choir Boy” to “Twelfth Night.” He brings new readings, new emotions and a new depth to Scrooge. He is as wide-ranging in his acting skills as the show’s most memorable Scrooge, experimental theater icon Bill Raymond. Of all the fresh new touches to the productions, he is the freshest. In a show that boasts glow-in-the-dark ghouls, a brightly lit Christmas tree and some astonishingly fast changes of settings and moods, Shropshire is its most spectacular special effect.Īt the center of all this is Hartford Stage’s brand new Scrooge, Allen Gilmore. T Charles EricksonNoble Shropshire in full flight as the ghost of Jacob Marley. On the fantasy side, the flying ghost routines have been scaled down, but that doesn’t matter since the most sensational and acrobatic flier is the spry septuagenarian Noble Shropshire, happily returning to the dual roles of Jacob Marley and the housekeeper Mrs. Beyond that newly sober scene, other moments address poverty and other appalling social conditions in Victorian London. ![]() Now it’s more straightlaced, reminding you why the scene exists in the first place: To hear Fred’s toast to his unlikeable uncle and feel his unflagging hope for positive change in the world. ![]() The party at Scrooge’s nephew Fred’s house had become a showcase for comical overacting, from drunk jokes to wild laughs. No extra credit is needed for keeping the story crisp and clear - it’s one of the most popular tales of all time - but some judicious cuts in the script are evident. Yes, there are also lovely hats, dresses, woolen overcoats and old-man pajamas, but wow, those sideburns! You could hang Christmas ornaments from them. “A Christmas Carol is a bonanza of sideburns, beards and bushy mustaches. Happily, nobody’s messed with the flagrant facial hair fashions that have always distinguished this show. ![]()
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