The Tyrone Community Players are proudly presenting “A Christmas Caroled,” the original adaptation of the Charles Dickens classic.
The musical will be offered at Altoona’s Mishler Theatre November 24 – 26. Tickets for the production are on sale at the Mishler Box Office or by calling 944-9434. Curtain at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, November 24 – 25 and 2 p.m. Sunday, November 26.
Director Cindy Bennett is pleased to announce the more than 40 member cast for the show. Will Jones plays Ebenezer Scrooge. Gary Johnson, Lisa Myers, and Gib Lucas are portraying the ghosts including Jacob Marley, Christmas Past and Christmas Present respectively. Pete Hedberg plays Scrooge’s nephew Fred, while Nathan Pownall plays the long-suffering Bob Cratchit. The rest of the Cratchit family include Cynthia Wood, Christian Toth, Lisa Balasco, and Issac Wood (Tiny Tim).
Young Scrooge is Eli Wood. Others from Scrooge’s youth are Joel Gessey, Anna Rockower, Kelly Busche and Tiffany Mayhew. Scrooge’s first employer, the fun-loving, good-spirited Mr. Fezziwig is played by Michael Snyder.
Friends of young Scrooge include Andrew Toth, Haley Wagner, April Taylor, Josiah Epple, Jonathan Clifton, Mary and Ariana Grabowski, Gabriella Zuiker and Zoie Robison. Additionally, The Cockney Street People and Christmas Carolers in the show as well as the Westminster Girls’ School members include Linda Strong, Dale Busche, Joe Grabowski, Mary Ann Kurtz, Kristen Otto, Joan Jones, Megan Wagner, Angela and Caroline Taylor, Jael Epple, Alyssa Benton, Kayla Bates and Alexis McKenna.
The young boy who gets to deliver the over-sized Goose to the half-starved, but full of faith Cratchit family is played by John Paul Grabowski.
Will Jones of Tyrone wrote the musical adaptation of the holiday classic. The show is being produced by TCP in conjunction with P & J Productions. Cindy Bennett, one of the founders of TCP is directing the production while her Musical Director is Mrs. Karen Mayhew. Stage Managers are Nancy Sloss and Kathy Fink. Mrs. Paul Pheasant is the rehearsal pianist and the show’s accompanist. Each of these women bring years of experience to the production. Additionally, many of the cast members have acted in a variety of other TCP and Altoona Community Theatre shows.
Forget the madness of Black Friday shopping and start the holiday season off with a new tradition of live theatre. The Dickens classic revisited and updated (a bit), although Marley is still dead, Ebenezer still says “Bah Humbug” and Tiny Tim echoes the sentiment guaranteed to make you smile wistfully . . . “God Bless Us, Everyone.” You won’t regret seeing this Christmas offering at the Altoona’s historic Mishler Theatre Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, November 24, 25, and 26.
