HOLIDAY CLASSIC
Four siblings in cast for Landmark Musical’s ‘Christmas Carol’
“AChristmas Carol” is a holiday classic.
Ebenezer Scrooge’s journey is a timeless one.
Written by Charles Dickens, “A Christmas Carol” follows Scrooge, a nasty old man who believes personal wealth is far more valuable than the happiness and comforts of others.
With an infuriated “Bah! Humbug!” Scrooge summarizes his feelings of Christmas tidings and charitable giving, but he is forced to face his selfish ways when three ghosts on Christmas Eve lead him through his Past, Present and Future.
The music is written by Alan Menken, who also wrote scores for “Little Shop of Horrors,” “Beauty and the Beast,” “Aladdin” and “Newsies.” Meanwhile Lynn Ahrens wrote the lyrics.
Landmark Musicals had such success presenting it in 2018, that they gave it another go around this year.
Opening night is Saturday, Nov. 23, at Rodey Theatre. It runs weekends through Dec. 8.
The cast once again features more than 40 people, including the Groves children of Albuquerque.
Oliver, 10, reprises his role as Tiny Tim. Charlie, 12, plays Scrooge at age 12, as well as Jonathan, a street merchant.
Meanwhile, Oscar, 7, plays Scrooge at age 8, as well as Ignorance, and is portraying one of the Smythe children and in the children’s choir.
And 4-year-old Scarlett is in the ensemble and children’s choir, as well as portraying Want.
“It can be complete utter chaos,” says Lana Melendres-Groves, of having her four children in the show. “And that I wouldn’t trade for anything.”
The acting bug hit the Groves household when Charlie auditioned for “Peter Pan,” which Landmark Musicals produced a few years ago.
“All the others were jealous,” she says. “They all started taking singing lessons and there was an opportunity for all of them to find a part. Landmark is thoughtful of the kids.”
As Tiny Tim, Oliver has the opportunity to be on stage the most, which he finds fun.
“I don’t do a lot of dancing and I get a lot of solo songs,” Oliver says. “Yeah, I get to have a crutch.”
Oscar also enjoys the plenty of roles he gets to participate in.
“It’s hard because there are a lot of (wardrobe) changes,” he says.
And Scarlett is super proud of her line in the play.
“I say, ‘Yes, Mommy,’ ” she beams. Melendres-Groves says the children put their work in on stage and it continues when they get home.
“These guys are fortunate because they have to put on English accents and their father is English,” she says. “He practices with them at home. This is the second year of doing ‘Christmas Carol’ and they had so much fun last year with much smaller roles for all of them.”