ALT.SF4M

  Patrick Stewart 's Christmas Carol

   • b*****t@w***.******c.com
     31/12/1994 11:54:12 UTC

     Sort of on topic. Helen and I saw Patrick Stewart do his one-man version
     of

     Dicken's "A Christmas Carol" on Broadway Wednesday. What a marvelous
     show!

     Stewart demonstrated his enormous talent in over two hours on a stage
     with

     the only props a desk, stool, table, chair, lectern, and a red bound
     copy of

     Dicken's book. Not a teleprompter in sight. Helen said she heard one
     slip

     in the monologue, I didn't detect so much as a mussed syllable. Stewart

     spoke without amplification, and was dressed in a simple modern suit.

     He played (as I read) something like 39 different characters, and the

     changes were abrupt and simply stunning - from crotchety Scrooge to an

     ageless and innocent Ghost of Christmas Past to a vapid maid answering a

     door. Helen and I were lucky enough to be seated in 2nd row center

     orchestra (I knew I had good tix but not THAT good ).

     Stewart is credited with writing the adaptation. He performed it on

     Broadway in 1991 and 1992, and in London in 1993 (where he received the

     English equivalent of the Tony award for Best Performance and was
     nominated

     for Best Actor). This year he was back on Broadway, and the performances

     run into early January. If you move fast you might still get tickets at

     Ticketmaster. If not, watch next December (it was announced in _The New

     Yorker_ magazine) and don't miss it if he comes to Broadway again.

     Tom

     Thomas C. Wilson / Ocean Instrument Lab / Marine Sciences

     State University of New York / Stony Brook NY 11794-5000 USA

     Tel: 516-632-8706 / FAX: 516-632-8820 / T******n@c*****.******b.edu

     "Opinions expressed are not necessarily, etc. etc...."