Citadel Theatre's A Christmas Carol - A Storybook Brought to Life

This was another jam-packed weekend for me.  Filled with basketball, a dress rehearsal and theatre clean, and two tries at seeing A Christmas Carol at The Citadel Theatre (one successful!).  I had never seen the production before and this was greeted with astonishment by most people I told that to, but the show itself actually replaced a different Christmas tradition of our family so when it first started I wasn't really into it.  I have seen or been in 5 different productions of the story so didn't figure I needed to see it.  I always heard from people 'Oh! You must go! It's really something wonderful!' - and it was.

You may note I said two attempts to see the show.  I had tickets for the Saturday night performance and an unfortunate power outage took out the lighting board and I have to get my tickets re booked for Sunday.  The Citadel was outstanding in dealing with the re-booking.  I did notice that they have also added another matinee to deal with the demand for tickets as this is a big selling show for the house. On Saturday, Kristin (my date for the evening) and I coped with the lack of show by having a fabulous visit and I was happy that she was able to rejoin me the next evening to see the show.

It was a wonderful night and every note is perfect pitch, a true storybook brought to life onstage.  You can tell that everyone in the cast is dedicated to telling this age old classic story with both reverence and joy. It's warmth and sharing of the Spirit of Christmas (and what that means) feels truly authentic.  I may go again and take my boys to it.  I think they would both appreciate the magic of the show, because the clockwork precision of the scene changes feels truly magical, and I think they are old enough to deal with it.  There were a number of children who were really too young for the show but most of them were far away from me so they didn't spoil my night. There are a few potentially scary elements but really, you shouldn't be taking a child under 4 or 5 to any show longer than an hour... they do not have the focus for it. That's not fair to the rest of the audience. That's my rant.  I like that people are taking kids to theatre, but know the appropriate age... that's all I am saying...

Anyhow, if you haven't see it, I now join the group of converts heavily endorsing it. Go, it's a wonderful way to get in the Christmas mood!

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