While I was in England I saw 'Scrooge the Musical' at the Lowry Theatre in Manchester. I had seen the same show about four years ago when it was featuring Shane Richie. This time it was featuring Tommy Steele. Scrooge the Musical is the musical version of 'A Christmas Carol'. The musical aspect changed the mood of the play. Although it was the same play, the musical numbers, dancing and comedy made it more bearable to watch.
Tommy Steele is a rather popular actor from London. He gave comedy to the play. Although in his 70s, he was still running around the stage, singing, dancing and getting the audience excited. When I saw it two years ago with Shane Richie the performance seemed a lot different. Although Shane Richie is funny, what we took away from the show was his singing voice. Shane Richie is a lot younger than Tommy Steele and has this amazing, loud singing voice. Although Tommy Steele had that at one point in his life, with age it went away. He still has an amazing voice for someone his age, however, the most memorable part of Tommy Steele's performance in comparison to Shane Richie's performance, was the comedy. I would have to say that after seeing both performances, I preferred the version with Tommy Steele.
The performance included many interesting illusions. For example, 'The Ghost of Christmases yet to come' was entirely an illusion as apposed to someone in a black cape. There were also illusions involving 'The Ghost of Christmas Past' and 'Jacob Marley'. There was a specific moment in the play when 'The Ghost of Christmas Past' had to leave. The actress walked up to a mirror and faced it with her cape completely covering her. Scrooge was hugging her and begging her to stay as he had learned that the ghost was actually his younger sister. He then pulled on the cape and she was no longer inside it. She appeared inside the mirror that she was originally facing.
A moment in the play that stood out to me was in one of the ensemble scenes. Scrooge was out in London asking everyone to pay him back for the money he had loaned them. During the scene there was a Punch and Judy stand. The man running it was giving a Punch and Judy puppet show to the younger children. This stood out to me because we have been studying Commedia and Punch and Judy in our theatre class.
I found this play very enjoyable and would definitely recommend it to anyone who is tired of the typical performance of 'A Christmas Carol'. Below is the advertisement for the show.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwYq26oAZVw
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