As of next week, there are only two places in the world to see what is officially known as "Madison Square Garden's 'A Christmas Carol.'"
One place, naturally, is the Theatre at Madison Square Garden, a 5,600-seat venue, originally known as the Paramount -- built in 1994 when Paramount Pictures owned Madison Square Garden. (Since then, the world-famous arena's ownership/management has changed, and the theater is now simply "the Theatre.")The other place you can catch the "MSG Christmas Carol" is much closer and considerably smaller -- the 240-seat Rodgers Memorial Theatre in Centerville. It's the only theater in the country to acquire the rights to produce Madison Square Garden's musical version of the popular Dickens story.
What brings a production originally conceived to compete, head on, with Radio City Music Hall's annual "Christmas Spectacular," to a small theater in Utah?
Connections.
Bountiful native David W. Checketts, president and CEO of Madison Square Garden, is a friend of William J. Davies, president of the Davis County Performance Arts Corp. board of trustees, which operates the Rodgers Memorial Theatre.
Checketts, in a recent telephone interview from his office in New York, said he doesn't envision the rights to "A Christmas Carol" going to other theaters in the near future.
"I don't see this as a business opportunity for us. It just happened because of my connection with Bill and what they're trying to accomplish with the theater there," he said.
"It's a Broadway-quality play with beautiful music," said Checketts.
Music and lyrics are by, respectively, Alan Menken and Lynn Ahrens. Oscar-winner Menken is best-known for his scores for such hit Disney animated features as "The Hunchback of Notre Dame," "Beauty and the Beast," "Aladdin" and "Pocahontas." Ahrens has written lyrics and music for "Schoolhouse Rock," and the lyrics for the Tony Award-winning musical, "Ragtime," and the animated film, "Anastasia," among others.
If the compact-disc version, featuring the original New York cast, is any indication, the show has a "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" feel -- lots of catchy tunes and lyrics.
There'll be a few differences between the huge New York production and the more intimate Centerville version. In New York, the wrap-around stage is about the size of a football field. There are 80 performers in the cast. At the end, "snow" falls on the 5,600 patrons seated in the theater.
In Centerville, the cast (directed by John and Tamara Adams) has been pared down to about 40, and the scenery will be on a much smaller scale. But Rodgers' designers are working on some kind of a snow effect.
Previous productions of "Madison Square Garden's 'A Christmas Carol' " have had a couple of Utah connections in addition to Checketts. Jenell Brook Slack, formerly of South Jordan, who acted in several Hale Centre Theatre productions, performed in one of the MSG productions as Little Fan. (She also toured with "Les Miserables" and is now the Immigrant Girl in a new touring edition of "Ragtime.")
Also, Patrick Page, familiar to many Utah theatergoers through his performances with Pioneer Theatre Company and the Utah Shakespearean Festival, understudied as Scrooge.
The Centerville production, opening Nov. 26 and continuing through Dec. 24, is mostly double-cast, with Dave Hill and Nick Cash alternating as Ebenezer Scrooge, Collin King and Spencer Forsey sharing the role of Tiny Tim.
Other cast members include Doug Vandegrift and Breck England as Marley, and Ron Glaittli and Jerry Allman as Bob Cratchit.
Marilyn May Montgomery has choreographed the show, with Steve Smith as musical director and Leslie Warwood as costume designer.
All seats are reserved. Tickets range from $10 to $12. Performances will be Mondays-Saturdays at 7:30 p.m., with two Saturday matinees, at 3 p.m. on Dec. 18 and 24. The theater is located at 292 E. Pages Lane. For reservations, call 298-1302. Group rates are available.