{"id":513806,"date":"2022-11-22T04:30:00","date_gmt":"2022-11-22T01:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/broadway-revitalizes-an-old-chestnut\/"},"modified":"2022-11-22T04:30:00","modified_gmt":"2022-11-22T01:30:00","slug":"broadway-revitalizes-an-old-chestnut","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/broadway-revitalizes-an-old-chestnut\/","title":{"rendered":"#Broadway revitalizes an old chestnut"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_84 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a24917892abd\" class=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-label\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/label><input type=\"checkbox\"  id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a24917892abd\" checked aria-label=\"Toggle\" \/><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-1'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/broadway-revitalizes-an-old-chestnut\/#%E2%80%9CBroadway_revitalizes_an_old_chestnut%E2%80%9D\" >&#8220;Broadway revitalizes an old chestnut&#8221;<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h1><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"%E2%80%9CBroadway_revitalizes_an_old_chestnut%E2%80%9D\"><\/span>&#8220;Broadway revitalizes an old chestnut&#8221;<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h1>\n<div>\n<p>The most illuminating take on Charles Dickens\u2019 \u201cA Christmas Carol\u201d in a while is, for the first five minutes, lit by just two small candles.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Director Michael Arden\u2019s crackling version, which opened Monday on Broadway, tends to be a staging of ones and twos. One actor, Jefferson Mays, plays almost every role and only a couple pieces of furniture are onstage (Dane Laffrey is the set designer) at any given time.\u00a0<\/p>\n<div class=\"inline-module inline-module--review alignleft\">\n<div class=\"inline-module__inner\">\n        <span class=\"inline-module--review__eyebrow widget-heading-semi__label\"><br \/>\n            Theater review      <\/span><\/p>\n<p>        One hour and 35 minutes, with no intermission; At the Nederlander Theatre, 208 W. 41st St.\n    <\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>What\u2019s so striking about this streamlined \u201cCarol,\u201d though, is the grandeur it manages to summon with simplicity \u2014 and how brisk the show is in every sense of the word.<\/p>\n<p>Dickens\u2019 tale of Ebenezer Scrooge transforming from miser to wiser is trudged out around the country every year in dusty productions that bring to mind old stagings of Puccini operas that endure long past their director\u2019s death. Usually schlepping to \u201cA Christmas Carol\u201d is like going to a church service where you have to pay for the wine.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Not this time. What\u2019s on Broadway right now is livelier but not modernized, per se. The rapid-fire adaptation by Arden, Mays and Susan Lyons is still firmly Victorian in <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/download-scripts-themes-apps\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"9\" title=\"Download Scripts &amp; Themes &amp; Apps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">app<\/a>roach, yet has vitality and renewed stamina \u2014 as though Scrooge has been downing a green smoothie every morning in preparation for his big night.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/11\/christmas-carol-broadway-3.jpeg?w=1024\" alt=\"Jefferson Mays plays every speaking role in &quot;A Christmas Carol&quot; on Broadway. \" class=\"wp-image-24739114\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/11\/christmas-carol-broadway-3.jpeg?quality=75&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1535 1536w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/11\/christmas-carol-broadway-3.jpeg?quality=75&amp;strip=all 1024w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/11\/christmas-carol-broadway-3.jpeg?quality=75&amp;strip=all&amp;w=512 512w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\"\/><figcaption>Jefferson Mays plays every speaking role in \u201cA Christmas Carol\u201d on Broadway. <\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">Jefferson Mays<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Mays\u2019 manic energy is exactly what \u2018neezer needed. The actor specializes in playing multiple parts, and did so to acclaim in \u201cI Am My Own Wife\u201d and \u201cA Gentleman\u2019s Guide to Love and Murder\u201d on Broadway. He\u2019s eccentric and creaturely, and can be believably high or low class with a snap of the fingers. For Mays, embodying enormous Dickensian characters such as Mr. Fezziwig and the Ghost of Christmas Present isn\u2019t a stretch. I mean this as a compliment, but you can almost imagine Mays speaking no differently while ordering a salad at Pret a Manger.  <\/p>\n<p>One-man \u201cCarol\u201ds have been done before, and the more crowded scenes here \u2014 parties, dinner at Bob Cratchit\u2019s \u2014 are unwieldy and lack focus compared to Scrooge speaking point blank to a specter. I\u2019ll admit to loathing when adult actors play children and young teens. As performed by Mays, however, we get a poignant sense that this consequential tour might not be a supernatural intervention after all, but rather a therapy session of voices lying dormant in the formerly good guy\u2019s head. That Scrooge is as responsible for spurring his own change of heart as the visiting ghouls are is a potent lesson for stubborn times.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/11\/christmas-carol-broadway-1.jpeg?w=1024\" alt=\"The lighting is a star in &quot;A Christmas Carol.&quot;\" class=\"wp-image-24739111\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/11\/christmas-carol-broadway-1.jpeg?quality=75&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1535 1536w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/11\/christmas-carol-broadway-1.jpeg?quality=75&amp;strip=all 1024w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/11\/christmas-carol-broadway-1.jpeg?quality=75&amp;strip=all&amp;w=512 512w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\"\/><figcaption>The lighting is a star in \u201cA Christmas Carol.\u201d<\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">Jefferson Mays<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>A wracked mind is certainly the takeaway from the show\u2019s most haunting moment, which sees Mays\u2019 face bathed with amber on one side and blue on the other, as he jumps between Scrooge and the Ghost of Christmas Past in the ripped-apart manner of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. This is the first show of the Broadway season in which lighting (by Ben Stanton) has been essential. Joshua D. Reid\u2019s sound design gets a rise out of the audience, also.<\/p>\n<p>And the direction is very fine. Arden has become a Broadway regular since his revival of \u201cSpring Awakening\u201d in 2015, and \u201cA Christmas Carol\u201d is his strongest and most confident work to date. Every idea connects seamlessly with the next, and never settles into Scrooge-control. The performance builds and builds, surprising us all along the way. The director also shows a flair for breathtaking stage pictures that was not so evident in his recent City Center revival of \u201cParade\u201d that plans to come to Broadway.  <\/p>\n<p>Even if you\u2019re a Scrooge when it comes to annual holiday fare, like I am, \u201cA Christmas Carol\u201d succeeds as a strong piece of theater.\n                        <\/p><\/div>\n<blockquote><p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><a style=\"color: #ff0000;\" href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqBwgKMLG0nwswvr63Aw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Google News<\/a><\/span>\u00a0too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">For forums sites go to <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/forum.buradabiliyorum.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Forum.BuradaBiliyorum.Com<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>If you want to read more <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/news\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"2\" title=\"News\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">News<\/a> articles, you can visit our <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/news\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">News category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: black;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2022\/11\/21\/a-christmas-carol-review-broadway-revitalizes-an-old-chestnut\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;Broadway revitalizes an old chestnut&#8221; The most illuminating take on Charles Dickens\u2019 \u201cA Christmas Carol\u201d in a while is, for the first five minutes, lit by just two small candles.\u00a0 Director Michael Arden\u2019s crackling version, which opened Monday on Broadway, tends to be a staging of ones and twos. One actor, Jefferson Mays, plays almost&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":513807,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/11\/christmas-carol-broadway-2.jpeg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1024","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[70897],"tags":[135949,29467,80988,70731],"class_list":["post-513806","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-11-21-22","tag-broadway","tag-plays","tag-theater-reviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/513806","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=513806"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/513806\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/513807"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=513806"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=513806"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=513806"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}