Michael Wilson can’t leave “A Christmas Carol” alone. He adapted the Charles Dickens classic with an added supernatural spin back in the 1990s, then made it a hallmark of his tenure at Hartford Stage starting in 1998.
Two years ago, Wilson was invited to refresh the production when it returned after the COVID pandemic. He came back again last year to look at it some more and this year he is in the director’s seat once again.
The popular annual production, which has been regularly refreshed throughout its impressive decades-long run, is back at Hartford Stage from Nov. 22 through Dec. 28. Wilson noted that this is the 25th year of “A Christmas Carol: A Ghost Story of Christmas” at Hartford Stage. It would be the 28th had it not been for a COVID cancellation in 2021, when the theater streamed “A Community Carol,” a new modern take on Dickens, and the substitution of a more economical holiday show, “It’s a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play,” in 2021 and 2022.
Wilson continues to tweak the production and also has had the critical responsibility of preparing two new Ebenezer Scrooges in the past three years: Allen Gilmore, who starred in 2023 and ‘24, and this year’s Scrooge, Guiesseppe Jones.
Theater review: Hartford Stage continues to find the magic with ‘A Christmas Carol’
Wilson said Gilmore may return to the role someday. “It’s not over with Allen. He had something he needed to take on. Allen misses being here very much and will be coming to see the show.”
The director is thrilled to bring in Jones, who has a history with the show, just not in Hartford.
Wilson personally took charge of “A Christmas Carol” in its earliest years. Then his vision was maintained by other directors at the theater, including during a major cast change in 2017 when the beloved Bill Raymond — Scrooge for 16 of the show’s first 18 seasons — passed on the top hat (and floppy nightcap) to Michael Preston.
Preston had been a longtime member of Hartford Stage’s “Christmas Carol” ensemble when he was given the Scrooge role. Gilmore’s route had been different. A revered regional theater and New York actor, he had played Scrooge elsewhere, though not in Wilson’s version, and contacted Hartford Stage to see if there was a place for him in a production he had heard such good things about.
The ghost ensemble is a key element of Michael Wilson’s “A Christmas Carol: A Ghost Story of Christmas” at Hartford Stage. (T Charles Erickson)
Jones’ journey to Scrooge falls somewhere in between Preston’s and Gilmore’s. When Hana Sharif became artistic director of the Repertory Theatre of St. Louis in 2019, she mounted her own production of Wilson’s adaptation. She knew the show well from when she had worked at Hartford Stage — first as an artistic associate, then as an artistic producer and ultimately as the theater associate artistic director and director of new play development — from 2005 to 2012. “A Christmas Carol: A Ghost Story of Christmas” played in St. Louis in 2021 and 2022, with Jones as its Scrooge. Then Sharif left to become the artistic director of Arena Stage in Washington D.C. and the Repertory Theatre of St. Louis decided to stop doing “A Christmas Carol” even though it had been announced as part of the 2023-24 season.
When Gilmore became unavailable this year, Wilson, who had seen Sharif’s St. Louis production, immediately thought of Jones, whom Sharif had highly recommended if he ever needed another Scrooge. “When Allen had to shift his commitments with us, we called Guiesseppe and he said ‘Absolutely.’”
It’s a bonus that Jones already had been performing the same script. Wilson first crafted his adaptation when he was the associate director at the Alley Theater in Texas in the 1990s. It has been done elsewhere, including a new production in Australia and a radio version created for Ford’s Theater in Washington D.C.
There are other casting changes this year. Emily Bosco, who played Escalus in the Hartford Stage production of “Romeo and Juliet,” is the new Mrs. Cratchit. Daniel Madigan is the new Mr. Marvel, one of the three street vendors who double as the spirits who visit Scrooge. Stuart Rider shifts from being one of the solicitors in the show to being the Spirit of Christmas Present. Leslie Blake Walker will play Fred’s Wife, who plays a key role in a party scene.
The designers of “A Christmas Carol: A Ghost Story of Christmas” are Tony Straiges (sets), Alejo Vietti (costumes), Robert Wierzel (lighting) and John Gromada (sound). (T Charles Erickson)
“A Christmas Carol: A Ghost Story of Christmas” also features 10 students from the University of Hartford’s Hartt School and two dozen children from the Greater Hartford area.
Among the familiar returning faces are two who have been with the show for most of its history: Rebecka Jones as the Spirit of Christmas Past and Noble Shropshire as Jacob Marley. Patrick O’Konis returns for a second season as Bob Cratchit. Wilson mentions Robert Hannon Davis, a former Cratchit and now a solicitor, “who’s been in the show on and off for 18 years but actually affiliated with it for 20 years because before he was in it, his kid was in the show.” Local actor and filmmaker Erik Bloomquist, who’s also returning this year, first appeared in the production when he was a child.
Wilson created the Hartford Stage production when he became artistic director there in 1998. He left Hartford Stage in 2010 to be a freelance director (including several Broadway productions). He returned to Hartford Stage in 2021 to direct a new stage version of the movie “The King’s Speech,” but it never opened due to the COVID shutdown. In 2023, he was enlisted to revive “A Christmas Carol: A Ghost Story of Christmas,” which had been on a long hiatus due to concerns about COVID affecting the large multi-generational cast.
Wilson was in Hartford earlier this year consulting on the new production of “Mark Twain Tonight!” starring Richard Thomas. which had a pre-tour run at TheaterWorks Hartford.
Michael Wilson (in red cap) rehearsing his long-running Charles Dickens adaptation “A Christmas Carol: A Ghost Story of Christmas” at Hartford Stage. (Courtesy of Hartford Stage)
His adaptation of “A Christmas Carol” is known for placing special emphasis, and impressive special effects, on the spookier aspects of the story, which not only makes for a more entertaining theatrical experience but also deepens the drama in Scrooge’s transformation from a bitter anti-social curmudgeon to a magnanimous holiday-loving community benefactor.
“His whole being is as cold and frigid as his outlook for society,” Wilson said. “The way our story’s told, he’s lost his family and friends and built this fortress, walled himself in. But it doesn’t mean he’s done with other people. He’s just afraid.”
One of the key structural elements of Wilson’s adaptation is the three street vendors who owe money to Scrooge. They later reappear in his dreams as the spirits of Christmas past, present and future. “The vendors are his entertainment,” Wilson said of Scrooge’s awkward interactions with the vendors. “He doesn’t have friends. Others don’t know how to help. Even with his housekeeper, she complains about Scrooge but secretly wants to be able to help and support him.”
“I’m really glad I signed on to direct it again this year,” Wilson said. “Twenty-five years is a big deal to have a production that steady and perennial. There are so many new people in the show this year, but this is not just about putting in replacements.” He and the cast are constantly rethinking the piece. “We have all our wits about us. Some of the changes are not subtle. Because I wrote it in the first place I can change the lines.”
The director/adaptor took care to add that his changes and insight are all in service to a major classic that has been amusing, enlightening and moving audiences since 1843.
“All the magic that runs through it was there when Dickens wrote it,” Wilson said.
“A Christmas Carol: A Ghost Story of Christmas,” adapted and directed by Michael Wilson, is at Hartford Stage Nov. 22 through Dec. 28. Performances are Wednesdays through Fridays at 7:30 p.m., Saturdays at 2 nd 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. plus Dec. 22 and 23 at 7:30 p.m. Dec. 24 at 2 p.m. and Dec. 30 at 1 p.m. The Nov. 26 performance is at 6:30 p.m., not 7:30 p.m. There is no matinee performance on Dec. 22, no evening performance on Dec. 24 and no performances at all on Dec. 25. $32-$115. hartfordstage.org.
