Erie Playhouse Has a Scrooge Loose

Friday, Dec. 2

There's no time like the present to reexamine your Christmas past, present, and future with the Erie Playhouse production of *Scrooge, ongoing throughout December.

The musical is an adaptation of the 1970 film of the same name, scored and scripted by English playwright Leslie Bricusse. The story, of course, is based on the 1843 novella *A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. Set in pre-Ambien London, the miserly Ebenezer Scrooge nonetheless succumbs to a series of phantasmagoric visions during the night of Christmas Eve 1843. As anyone familiar with the story knows, it's a pretty bad trip.

First, the Ghost of Christmas Past reviews the circumstances that led him to become a miserable old man. Then, the Ghost of Christmas Present illuminates the ramifications of his current M.O. – in particular, bilking his underpaid clerk Bob Crachit out of a decent standard of living (and healthcare for his sickly son Tiny Tim) while he greedily counts his coins. Lastly, the Ghost of Christmas Yet-to-Come shows Mr. Scrooge the consequences if he continues on this course – a lonely death with no mourning. Thankfully there is a next morning, and Scrooge redeems himself with charitable contributions galore – out of the goodness of his thawed-out heart, with no consideration to write-offs. If only this three-pronged approach to asshat-conversion therapy were available to every asshat in the 21st century.

The Playhouse production stars Rich Tryzbiak as the lead man, Charles Corritore (Bob), Diane Martone (Ethel), and Michael Corritore (Tiny Tim) as the Cratchit family, and Tom Wager as Jacob Marley. Patti Rudzinski and Joe Greulich fill the roles of Christmas Past and Christmas Present, respectively.

Muppets, Smurfs, and even Klingons have retold this tale – but it remains as ever one of the more hopeful stories about humanity. – Matt Swanseger

7:30 p.m. on Dec. 2, 3, 8-10, and 14-17; 2 p.m. on Dec. 10, 11, 18 // 13 W. 10th St. // erieplayhouse.org/shows/2016-17/scrooge // 454.2852 // $24.90 (adults), $17.90 (discount balcony), $16.40 (students)