A re-imagined A Christmas Carol at People’s Light. A warmhearted Scrooge?

It’s nearly December and do we really need another theatrical production of A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens’ holiday classic?

It was a question that the folks at People’s Light and Theatre Company in Malvern asked themselves as well, said Zak Berkman, artistic director. The answer, obviously, is yes, since its version opened Saturday, particularly significant since it’s People’s Light return to live theater since the start of the pandemic.

How they came to that decision is interesting.

“You just raised the debate we had 17 years ago,” Berkman said.

“From a field-wide perspective, it is the gateway drug for the American theatergoer,” he said. “It’s the way many Americans experience theater for the first time.” That being said, it’s a reliable moneymaker.

But years ago, casting about for an alternative, People’s Light began producing their wildly hilarious panto, a sort of British comedy in which everything is turned upside down. It drew crowds and “it felt like a victory because we weren’t doing A Christmas Carol,” Berkman said.

Times have changed, though, and “we were starting to look at the pantos through the lens of equity, diversity, and inclusion,” noting “some regressive elements regarding gender and sexuality” in the panto lexicon, Berkman said.

And so, looking for a holiday show for the whole family, Berkman began to re-think A Christmas Carol. What he came up with makes the story of money-lender Ebenezer Scrooge’s change of heart more than relevant this year.

As Berkman reread Dickens’ novel, he began to understand something about Scrooge. Berkman, who wrote People’s Light’s adaptation, saw Scrooge as a man in his 50s who had never really gotten over the death, seven years earlier, of his friend and mentor. Berkman saw a child abandoned at the holidays, whose mother and sister died young.

“It is interesting to think of Scrooge as someone who has suffered great loss and who has fortressed himself with money and work, with independence. He’s solitary as an oyster. ‘I do not need anyone, nothing needs to permeate my shell,’” Berkman said.

A Christmas Carol “is less so the story of a greedy miserly man and more the thawing of the heart of someone who suffered great loss,” Berkman said.

The world was cold — and cold-hearted — in Dickens’ time, Berkman said, “but that’s where we are now. To be more warmhearted, maybe we can turn the corner. Finding the way to do it isn’t by scaring people out of their wits, but by truly diving into where their hurt comes from, where their trauma comes from and how to heal it.”

That would be a gift that would last well beyond the holidays.

But there’s more: Berkman, who is also a composer, wrote new music for the show. Among his eclectic range of interests is a fascination with 19th-century ballads for children, some of which, he said, are quite dark. He’s adapted some of the songs, mixing and matching familiar carols with new lyrics and new melodies.

Through Jan. 2, People’s Light, 39 Conestoga Rd., Malvern. For tickets, information, 610-644-3500 or peopleslight.org. Proof of vaccination or a recent negative COVID-19 test and masks required.

“If it were acceptable,” hometown actress Madeline Raube writes in her bio, “I’d wear a gown every day.” Turns out wishes do come true, because day after day, performing as Countess Lily in the touring company of the Broadway musical Anastasia, Raube dresses in a gown — and a gorgeous one. The costumes are stunning in Anastasia — not surprising for a play that focuses on the wealth of the Romanov family. The Romanovs ruled Russia for centuries until deposed by the Bolsheviks in 1917.

Raube, who lives in New York when she’s not on the road, grew up in suburban Philadelphia and recently spent time in West Chester. Luckily for Raube, the touring company is staging Anastasia this week in Philadelphia, so the actor, singer, voice coach, and Zumba instructor will get to celebrate Thanksgiving with her family here.

Through Nov. 28 at the Merriam Theater, 250 S. Broad St., Philadelphia. For tickets, information, kimmelculturalcampus.org, 215-893-1999. Proof of vaccination required for theatergoers over 12; those under must show results from a negative PCR test. Masks required.

What happens when you lock an American founding father, a Victorian literary celebrity, and a Russian anarchist/aristocrat in a room? The result is The Gospel According to Thomas Jefferson, Charles Dickens & Count Leo Tolstoy: Discord, a provocative comedy and a battle of wits and wills. Written by Scott Carter and presented live with good reviews in 2017, this digital premiere production by Lantern Theater Company was filmed at St. Stephens Theater in Center City and will be live-streamed through Dec. 19. Live streaming of Me and the Devil, by Steve H. Broadnax 3d and Charles Dumas, has been extended through Feb. 27.

For tickets, information, 215-829-0395, lanterntheater.org.

The Billy Strayhorn Project is one of those shows that’s part theater, part concert, but whatever box you put it in, promises to be entertaining for Big Band fans. Duke Ellington, who collaborated with composer, pianist, and arranger William “Thomas” Billy Strayhorn for three decades, described him as “my right arm, my left arm … my brain waves in his head and his in mine.” In Philly, vocalist Tyrone Brown, keyboard artist Dave Posmontier, bass player David Brodie and drummer Doug Hirlinger will bring Strayhorn’s legend to life playing songs such as “Take the A Train” and “Lush Life.” The show here coincides with similar annual birthday tributes across the country and around the world listed on billystrayhorn.com.

Nov. 29, 7 and 8:30 p.m. at Our House Culture Center, 6380 Germantown Ave., Philadelphia. Tickets at the door or via Eventbrite.

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