Photo Credit: Mia Frenduto[/caption]OHS Theatre’s A Christmas Carol opened on November 20 without a hitch and swept the audience away with its miraculous and touching storyline. A Christmas Carol has been performed for over 100 years, but only the ability of great actors like the actors at OHS can really bring this story of redemption to life. With a new perspective, a bigger stage production, and a mesh of C.W. Stanford and OHS student actors, this play is unmatched by any previous production. A Christmas Carol will be showing on November 21 and November 22 at 7 pm and November 23 at 2 pm. It is highly recommended that everyone in the community attend.
A Christmas Carol was originally a book by Charles Dickens, published in 1843, that was adapted into a play later in the nineteenth century. The story follows a grumpy, greedy, money-driven old miser named Scrooge (Luke Taylor), who is visited by his former business partner, Jacob Marley (Miriam Carr), and three spirits of Christmas--the Ghost of Christmas Past (Erin Burgner), Christmas Present (Hunter Moser), and Christmas Future (Maleke Moore). Through them, Scrooge learns that money has cost him more than it is worth and living life to the fullest means receiving and giving the love of others. Attached to this, there is a smaller, but just as significant, plot where Scrooge learns that the man who works for him, Bob Cratchit (Robert Piscitelli), and his family are in need because Tiny Tim (Brenna Mehl), their youngest son, is sickly. This drastically changes Scrooge’s demeanor as well.
All of the lead actors did extremely well in bringing their characters to life. Taylor plays a wonderfully grumpy Scrooge and will truly make you hope that Scrooge can see the error of his ways. Alongside of him, Piscitelli will bring you to tears in some parts of the production and was probably the most powerful onstage presence. Other minor roles were very powerful as well, especially the middle school actors that were lent to the OHS stage for this production. Mehl as Tiny Tim moved the story in a more positive direction towards the end of the play. Three of the funniest actors on stage were Moser, playing Christmas Present, Tyler Rubio, playing Fezziwig, a former employer of Scrooge, and Mrs. Fezziwig, played by Nunna Noe. They had the audience rolling in their seats, gasping for air.
The set and production values were also incredible, thanks to the OHS theatre department’s backstage crew. The efforts of the crew and manager Molly Burke were represented very well in the show. There were various parts of the play that highlighted the abilities of the stage crew. For example, there is a scene in the beginning of the play where the ghost of Marley finds Scrooge in his bedroom. This is accomplished through eerie noises, fog, perfect lighting, and glow-in-the-dark effects. There is also a scene where Christmas Future, a huge, dark puppet built by the FFA department, is introduced to the stage. This, the most powerful and frightening scene of the whole play, is accomplished through an intricate system of fog machines, blue LED lights, and interesting sound effects. This scene requires the whole theater to be pitch black and will rock the audience to their core.
0 comments