[NEohioPAL] Great Lakes Theater Festival Presents "A Christmas Carol"

[Todd Krispinsky]

For Immediate Release
November 11, 2009

Great Lakes Theater Festival Presents
Cleveland's Annual Holiday Classic
A Christmas Carol

CLEVELAND, OH - The stage of the Ohio Theatre, PlayhouseSquare will glow
with good spirits and time-honored tradition when Great Lakes Theater
Festival (GLTF) presents its twenty-first annual production of Charles
Dickens' A Christmas Carol, running December 4 - 23, 2009.  The
production has delighted more than 525,000 people in its history, making
it one of Northeast Ohio's most-loved and best-attended holiday events.

Great Lakes Theater Festival's forty-eighth season is presented with
generous support from The Cleveland Foundation and the Ohio Arts
Council.  In addition, the Festival is generously funded by the citizens
of Cuyahoga County through Cuyahoga Arts and Culture.  A Christmas
Carol's media sponsor is Soft Rock 102.1 F.M. WDOK.  GLTF's Season Media
Sponsors are Cleveland Scene, The Plain Dealer, WCLV 104.9 FM, WCPN 90.3
FM ideastream and WKSU 89.7 FM.

Director Andrew May, will stage former GLTF Artistic Director Gerald
Freedman's heartwarming adaptation of A Christmas Carol.  The production
features a multi-generational cast of actors, singers and dancers led by
longtime Festival company member Aled Davies, returning for his second
season in the role of miserly Ebenezer Scrooge. 

"It's exciting for us as a company of artists to revisit this great
classic holiday story," said Andrew May, who will stage this season's
production.  "We are blessed with an immensely talented cast and a
wonderful adaptation that we can't wait to share.  I am overjoyed to
return to direct a piece of theater again this season that has meant as
much to this company and to this community as has A Christmas Carol for
over two decades."

GLTF Producing Artistic Director Charles Fee remarked, "The combination
of Gerald Freedman's inspired and moving adaptation, Andrew May's
dynamic gifts as a director, our remarkable design team and our talented
company are sure to delight audiences, whether they're attending for the
first time or returning to experience this holiday tradition again with
friends and family."

Freedman's adaptation of A Christmas Carol is presented as a story
within a story. The fictitious Cleaveland family gathers in its
Victorian-era parlor on Christmas Eve to read Mr. Dickens' book. As Mrs.
Cleaveland reads the story to her family, her youngest child, Master
William, re-imagines familiar faces as characters in the story: the
Cleaveland's crotchety manservant becomes Scrooge; Father becomes Bob
Cratchit; Mother becomes Belle, and the Cleaveland children become the
Cratchits, with Master William becoming the beloved Tiny Tim. In all,
more than 60 Dickens characters are brought to life on stage.

The Festival's production incorporates theatrical special effects to
retain a strong sense of the supernatural, emphasizing the novel's
origins in folk tales and myth. Designers for the GLTF production blend
exceptional stagecraft with dramatic effects that evoke the magical and
mysterious aspects of a classic ghost story.

Great Lakes Theater Festival's twenty-first annual production of A
Christmas Carol commences on Friday, December 4th at 7:30 p.m. at the
Ohio Theatre, PlayhouseSquare.  Curtain times for all evening
performances will remain at 7:30 p.m., with a 1:30 p.m. curtain time for
Saturday, Tuesday and Wednesday matinees and a 3:00 p.m. curtain time
for Sunday matinees.  An audio-described performance is scheduled for
Sunday, December 6th at 3:00 p.m.  A sign-interpreted performance is
scheduled for Sunday, December 13th at 3:00 p.m.

Single tickets for Great Lakes Theater Festival's production of A
Christmas Carol range in price from $28-$59 (student tickets $26 - any
performance / any seat) and are available by calling 
(216) 241-6000, by ordering online at www.greatlakestheater.org or by
visiting the PlayhouseSquare Ticket Office. Groups of ten or more
receive discounts and should call (216) 241-5490 x302 to make
reservations.

Since 1962, Great Lakes Theater Festival has brought the pleasure, power
and relevance of classic theater to the widest possible audience in
Northern Ohio. The first resident company of PlayhouseSquare, Great
Lakes Theater Festival has called the Theatre District home since 1982.

#   #   #

Todd Krispinsky
Marketing and Public Relations Director
Great Lakes Theater Festival
1501 Euclid Avenue, Suite 300
Cleveland, Ohio  44115
(216) 241-5490 x317 / (216) 241-6315 Fax
www.greatlakestheater.org <http://www.greatlakestheater.org/> 

Stay connected to Great Lakes Theater Festival...
Become a fan of the Festival on Facebook.  Click here.
<http://www.facebook.com/gltfcleveland> 
Follow us on Twitter.  Click here. <http://twitter.com/GLTFCleveland> 

 
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