Three Christmas productions (see today's cover for one of them), a children's fable, a multi-discipline performance art piece, a mystery dinner and stage versions of three literary classics are on tap for theatergoers this week.
- A CHRISTMAS CAROL, PART II, OR A DICKENS OF A CHRISTMAS carries the classic Dickens tale a few steps further . . . practically over the edge.Written by Bob Bedore and directed by Ben Porter (assisted by Eric Jensen), this 1995 edition of the show contains some new scenes and songs that weren't in previous productions.
The plot focuses on Ebenezer Scrooge a couple of years following his nocturnal confrontations with the Ghosts of Christmases Past, Present and Future. He's turned from being a money-hoarding skinflint into a man who is recklessly giving all of his wealth away.
And the formerly honest Bob Cratchit has become an embezzler (merely to get his hands on as much of Scrooge's money as he can before it all disappears).
And that sickly little Tiny Tim? Well he's grown into someone with the potential to be a San Francisco 49ers linebacker . . . except he has Scrooge believing that he's still in ill health (and in need of constant infusions of financial help).
The cast includes Jensen as Scrooge, Melissa Porter as Belle, his former sweetheart; Bob Bedore and Robert Bogue as Bob and Tiny Tim Cratchit, Ben Porter as Jacob Marley, and Sandy Jensen, Ron Johnson, Laura Bedore and Alexis Owen as Christmas ghosts, with Cody K Carlson in a variety of roles.
Performances will be Mondays and Thursdays-Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. at the Off Broadway Theatre, 272 S. Main, from Nov. 16 through Dec. 30. All seats are reserved. Admission is $8 for adults, $6 for senior citizens and students and $5 for children 12 and under. For reservations, call 355-4628.
- CHRISTMAS IN COLORADO, a new family-oriented musical written by Jodi Renstrom, will debut on Friday, Nov. 17, at the Valley Center Playhouse in Lindon, where it will continue on Thursdays-Saturdays through Dec. 23, playing in repertory with "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever" (Mondays-Wednesdays, Nov. 20-Dec. 20).
For reservations, call 785-1186.
- JACK AND THE BEANSTALK, City Rep Artistic Director Joanne M. Parker's adaptation of the whimsical fairy tale, will play for 22 performances from Nov. 18 through Jan. 13.
The cast includes Joe Rogan as Jack, Michelle Timothy as his mother, and Nigel James as both Jack's father and the giant "Ogre of Wales."
Also in the cast are Steve L. Nichol, Nels Holmgren, Dale Cope, Laura Alsop, Nancy Jensen, Keith Holland and Dawn Kolden.
Evening performances will be at 7:30 p.m. on the following Mondays, Fridays and Saturdays (in repertory with "Child of Bethlehem"): Nov. 18, 20, 24, 25 and 27; Dec. 1, 9, 11, 15, 18, 22 and 29 and Jan. 5, 6, 8, 12 and 13, with matinees at 2 p.m. on Nov. 25, Dec. 9, 23 and 30 and Jan. 6.
There will also be additional performances for school field trips on selected Tuesdays and Wednesdays throughout the run. All school performances have been sold out, but those interested in putting their school on a waiting list for possible cancellations may do so by calling the City Rep box office.
Regular admission is $7.50 for adults and $5.50 for children (16 and under). The theater is at 638 S. State. For reservations, call 532-6000.
- EMERGENTS: TRACKS IN THE MOTHERLINE, is a multidiscipline performance piece focusing on transitions in women's lives.
The work, being staged at Rowland Hall-St. Marks School, 843 Lincoln, involves the collaborative efforts of choreographer Melinda McIlwaine, poet Lin Ostler and children's theater director Mary Randak. The production includes elements of dance, drama, storytelling and live music.
Curtain time is 8 p.m. on Nov. 17, 18 and 19. For ticket information, call 363-1668.
- DEATH AT BROKEN HEART RANCH, a Western participatory "whodunit" by Hunt Mystery & Company, makes a return engagement at the Camelot Restaurant in Layton on Thursday, Nov. 16.
In the mystery, guests arrive at a dude ranch for a surprise birthday party that includes singing, dancing and even a Western line dance. But during dessert, a killer strikes. The suspects include Red Escort Service's Angel Blossom, played by Liz Halloran; ranchhand-whistleblower Alice Watt, Missy Birdsong; crazy scientist Igor Franz, Marlowe Dayley; the cantankerous Vinnie Hartman, Lee Fobert; his playboy son Sonny Hartman, John Caldwell; motherly nurse Sheila Helper, JoDean Pond; and Detective Sam Club, Ben Carling.
The dinner show, directed and choreographed by Lenore Cambria, costs $25 per person. Doors open at 7 p.m. and the show and dinner begin at 7:30 p.m.
For reservations, call the Camelot at 801-773-1336.
- TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD, the dramatization of Nelle Harper Lee's Pulitzer Prize-winning book, will be staged Nov. 17-Dec. 2 in the Pardoe Theatre at Brigham Young University, Provo.
This will be director Charles Metten's last mainstage production prior to his retirement from the BYU drama faculty at the end of the 1995-96 school year.
Half-price preview performances will be Wednesday and Thursday, Nov. 15-16, after which the production will continue Tuesdays-Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. with one matinee at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 25.
There will also be a performance on Thanksgiving evening.
Lee's work has been dramatized for the stage by Christopher Sergel, and according to prizewinning playwright Horton Foote, Sergel's adaptation is one of only two that Harper has permitted (the other being the screenplay version starring Gregory Peck).
The play unfolds in 1939 Maycom, Ala., and focuses on the life of single parent Atticus Finch, who just happens to be a lawyer. His greatest desire is to keep his family - a daughter, Scout, and a son, Jem - well and happy. Another child, Dill, has a more prominent position in the play than in the movie, and is a bright and mature little boy who also wishes Finch were his father. Metten believes Dill represents author Truman Capote (a close friend of Lee's) as a child.
Major players among the cast of 38 include veteran actor Scott Wilkinson as Atticus Finch, Hunter Lasseter as Scout, Devin Felix as Jem and Kennan Liston as Dill.
Tickets for "To Kill a Mockingbird" are available through the Fine Arts Ticket Office at $8 for general public and seniors; $7 for alumni, and $6 for students, faculty and staff.
- THE LITTLE PRINCE, a musical based on Antoine de Saint-Exupery's popular book about the mystical transformation of a pilot stranded in the Sahara Desert after he is visited by a young prince from another planet, will be performed Tuesday-Saturday, Nov. 14-18, at 7:30 p.m. and 2 p.m. Nov. 18 in the Monson Theatre of Weber State University's Val A. Browning Center for the Performing Arts.
Directed by Ronald V. Ladwig, the cast includes Justin Ivie as the pilot and Corey Atkins in the title role of the Little Prince.
Admission is $8.50 for adults and $5.50 for students and senior citizens. For reservations, contact the Dee Events Center box office at 626-8500.
- MOBY DICK, performed by the highly acclaimed Idaho Theatre for Youth, is scheduled for one performance at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 14, at the Ellen Eccles Theatre, 43 S. Main, Logan.
Tickets are $8 to $10 for adults and $4 to $5 for children. They're available at the Eccles Theatre box office or by calling 752-0026.