Local actors make touring ‘Carol’ a family affair
Tony-winning production of Dickens tale comes to S.F.
One reason “A Christmas Carol” has become an enduring holiday classic is that Charles Dickens’ 1843 ghost story about crotchety miser Ebenezer Scrooge being spooked into model citizenship is ultimately a story about the importance of kindness and camaraderie, friends and family.
So it seems appropriate that the version BroadwaySF is bringing to the Golden Gate Theatre in San Francisco brings together a number of familiar local actors along with the more usual assortment of New York actors.
Adapted by “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” writer Jack Thorne and originally directed and conceived by Matthew Warchus,
this “Carol” originated at London’s Old Vic, where it’s currently playing for a fourth season. It went on to become a 2019 Broadway hit, winning five Tony Awards for original score and scenic, costume, lighting and sound design.
The San Francisco production stars Obie Award winner Francois Battiste as Scrooge, while a parallel touring production is visiting Spokane, Las Vegas, Phoenix and Los Angeles.
In a typical holiday season you might find a halfdozen local theaters doing “A Christmas Carol,” all using completely different adaptations.
East Bay native Colin Thomson — a frequent performer with Center Repertory Company, 42nd Street Moon and TheatreWorks Silicon Valley — plays Scrooge’s lighthearted mentor Fezziwig, a role he previously played twice in the version that American Conservatory Theatre has been doing annually since 2005 (replacing an earlier version it had been doing for nearly 30 years).
“Certainly it’s a lovely, good time, but I think overall it’s a lighter affair,” Thomson says of the ACT version, which will be offered in a streaming version this year. “Not that our show doesn’t also have comedy and music, but there’s more drama here. I’m really enjoying the details that I think help give context for both Scrooge becoming the man that we find at the