A Christmas Carol has been one of the favorite presentations on Christmas programs for over a century. But because of the multiple sets and numerous characters required, many dramatizations have failed. Now comes this new adaptation in Jerome McDonough's exciting style.

Marrying fidelity to Dickens' words with open, simple staging and costuming, McDonough's script is fresh and highly performable. The cast members form a living cyclorama before which all scenes are acted. Set pieces are limited to four chairs, two plain tables, and a door frame. Costuming consists of a basic black outfit with one additional element per character to suggest the character. Only Scrooge requires more elaborate costuming.

Scene changes are effected by members of the "living cyclorama" (the chorus), thus maintaining the flow of the play even during slight pauses in the action. Characters enter the scenes from their positions on the "cyclorama." This simplification of the physical aspects of the play has the added advantage of making the entire production highly portable. The original cast, for example, performed the entire play five times in five different schools in the space of a single school day. Blocked as indicated in the script, A Christmas Carol has been performed in spaces ranging from large proscenium stages to a flat area measuring barely ten-by-fifteen feet.

Parochial Schools: "We like the play [A CHRISTMAS CAROL]. It's different."—Sister M. Eurose, Redemptorist High School, New Orleans.

Other McDonough Christmas Plays: Carol*A Christmas, It's Sad, So Sad When an Elf Goes Bad, The Nearest Star, Not Even A. Mouse, O Little Town, Posadas (bilingual), Señor Scrooge (bilingual)

See also: A Christmas Carol (full-length), A Christmas for Carol, A Country Christmas Carol, Christmas Plays (Non-Musical) and Classics