01 December 2014

A Very Dickens Christmas

Image from the Calgary Herald


December 1 - a look at Christmas past (by one year).

One of the ways I wanted to celebrate Christmas last year was to enjoy as many versions of "A Christmas Carol" as I could. I'm a native Calgarian but somehow in the past 27 years that Theatre Calgary had staged this Christmas class, I had never attended. I inevitably left it too late and couldn't find 3 seats together on any night, any where but then I remembered that the University of Calgary alumni association buys a block of tickets that I was able to take advantage of and secure my seat. Buying this way also included a pre-performance reception with a Q&A with a couple of actors from the cast.




Loose Moose

I followed this up with another Calgary classic, A Christmoose Carol performed by the Loose Moose Theatre Company.  Same story but a very different take on it. This one had a "1950s" television approach and was frequently interrupted by a few words from the sponsors. Super fun!

A Christmoose Carol  (img from the Calgary Sun)


Blackadder

The fun now continued at home with some DVD classics. Blackadder's Christmas Carol is a backwards telling of the tale in which a very very good man who is constantly being taken advantage of is visited by the ghost who shows him the opposite ways but thinks how much better off his life would be if he were to be selfish instead of charitable. Okay - maybe not the right message for Christmas but so funny.  And he doesn't realize that his change of heart has cost him greater rewards in the end.

He refuses to go to the door and has his servant Baldrick send away the person knocking, thinking it to be another person begging for a hand out, knowing of his typically charitable nature. But it was really Queen Victoria!


What would the Queen be doing here?

She come to visit you to reward you
for being the nicest man in England
by giving you 50,000 pounds
and the title ofBaron Blackadder.
It couldn't have been the Queen
because when she visits people,
she leaves her Royal Seal.
- What? Like this one?
- Yes, just like that...




I also watched Mickey's Christmas Carol, the Muppets' Christmas Carol (love this one too!), and managed to get through most of  Disney's 2009 movie with Jim Carrey.


So if you are inspired to revisit this classic for yourself, here is a dramatization of the original story in full. Curl up with a cup of cocoa and warm throw and listen to the tale of Mr. Scrooge and his evening visitors.  http://www.mormonchannel.org/a-christmas-carol


Here's a musical selection for the season! Silver Bells

http://www.wbrettwilson.ca/FlashVersion/artists/meaghan.html

And here is a Christmas photo of the day:

Miss Madi at Zoo lights. Super cute, right? I love Christmas lights - it is that time of the year!

Come back every day as I count down to Christmas! 25 sleeps to go!

2 comments:

Lalainia said...

Look forward to your posts this month. We took the boys to A Christmas Carol at Theatre Calgary on Saturday. I've been several times, but it was their first - they loved it! My all time favorite version though is the old black and white with Alister Sims. Merry Christmas!

sdr said...

Oh yeah! I watched that one too! I left it out. I wrote this post last Christmas and just never got around to posting it. Nice to have that memory with the boys. Theatre Calgary did such a great job last year!

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