Commissioned by Opera Holland Park, Will Todd’s enchanting musical retelling of A Christmas Carol weaves the melodies of nine traditional Victorian carols and the midwinter chimes of handbells through Charles Dickens’s evergreen ghost story.
Join us for a seasonal celebration with a difference. Directed by Martin Duncan (Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland), eight of the company’s finest principals, including Victoria Simmonds, Julien Van Mellaerts and Paul Carey Jones, perform A Christmas Carol in a Victorian costumed semi-staging in the beautiful setting of Hawksmoor’s Smith Square masterpiece.
Actor Kit Benjamin narrates and takes the role of Scrooge, with Charne Rochford as Scrooge’s beleaguered clerk, Bob Cratchit, and Alys Roberts as Bob’s son, Tiny Tim. Handbells, accordion, piano and double bass conjure the changing landscapes of the night that transforms Scrooge’s life and melts his heart, as he is visited by the ghosts of Jacob Marley, and of Christmas Past, Present and Future in librettist David Simpatico’s beautifully crafted adaptation of this Christmas classic.