CONNECTICUT IS THE NEW STAR OF “A CHRISTMAS CAROL” IN CHESTER

        LENNY WOLPE AS SCROOGE  PHOTO BY DIANE SOBOLEWSKI

If you like your musicals with a spicy flavor of nutmeg, paying homage to our fine state of Connecticut, look no further than the lively and imaginative new offering at Goodspeed’s Terris Theatre until Saturday, December 30:  “A Connecticut Christmas Carol.”  This new show, the brainchild of LJ Fecho and Michael O’Flaherty,  It shines a whole new light on the enigmatic and mean spirited  Charles Dickens’ character Scrooge and moves him to our state shores. This new adaptation of a holiday classic is determined to win your heart and warm it in all novel and happy ways.

The creators, LJ for book and Michael for music and lyrics, have been friends for decades and used their previous collaboration on a similar show about Scrooge set in the Pennsylvania Dutch country as a jumping off spot for their newest venture.  Michael Price, and later Michael Gennaro, who served as Executive Directors of Goodspeed Musicals, Mr Gennaro still enjoying that position, both desired the creation of a special holiday musical that could become a traditional favorite.

In a recent interview with LJ Fecho, he called the show “awesome and a great experience.  The director Hunter Foster is doing a great job directing, and Lisa Shriver is doing wonderful choreography. This is an interesting adaptation of an iconic work,  We’ve set it in 1925 on the Goodspeed stage.  Mr Goodspeed has asked the famed Sherlock Holmes actor William Gillette, who lived in a castle near by, to play Scrooge in a final production of “A Christmas Carol” before the legendary theater closes its doors forever.”

While doing research for the production, Fecho discovered that Gillette knew Mark Twain, Harriet Beecher Stowe and P. T Barnum, a trio of Connecticut’s favorite personages.  With a little magic and imagination, they became “the pesky spirits- past, present and future-who visit Scrooge on Christmas Eve.  To represent his old business partner Marley, enter J. P. Morgan, the financier, who visits Scrooge with a dire warning. Change or face the consequences.  Fecho sincerely thanks the Internet that translated “into a million library books” and helped him create the huge historical figures who populate the story.  The fact that they actually knew each other was a great bonus.  Fecho discovered that Mark Twain loaned William Gillette $5000 to start his acting career and his company. Harriet Beecher Stowe was a neighbor of Twain’s, living next door to him in Hartford. Fecho used classic quotes from all of them to create the show’s dialogue.

Lenny Wolpe will be the irreverent Scrooge, the man who needs to learn a lesson and find redemption. Michael T. Holmes will inhabit all the ghosts who come to visit and as Mark Twain actually speaks some of his own sardonic and pithy sayings. Others in the cast who play everyone including the Cratchits, Scrooge’s family, and the Connecticut personages are Matt Gibson, Samantha Bruce, Mark DiConzo, Patrick Graver, Lec Harrington, Celeste Rose, Jeff Sears, Daisy Wright and Robert Berson as Tiny Tim.

The musical, rife with local geographic references, is a tale of good will and, ultimately, of good people.  Scrooge experiences an epiphany and Fecho wants the audience to be surprised.  He emphasizes that it is a very funny, light hearted musical, upbeat, and that Lenny Wolpe is a great comedic actor. Working at the Goodspeed has been a wonderful experience with so many people and ideas who come together as one.  He feels “blessed to be here.”

For tickets ($49-59), call the Goodspeed at 860-873-8668 or online at www.goodspeed.org.  The production is at the Terris Theatre, 33 North Main Street, Chester. Performances are Wednesday at 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m., Thursday at 7:30 p.m., Friday at 8 p.m., Saturday at 3 p.m. and 8 p.m. and Sunday at 1 p.m. and 6:30 p.m.  Note the special times Thanksgiving week.

According to Fecho and O’Flaherty, “It’s our sincerest wish that you and all of Connecticut embrace our new version of “A Christmas Carol” that features this great state and the wonderful people in it as we hope you make this your newest holiday tradition.” Come with your family and make this a permanent present under your Christmas tree to enjoy again and again.