The Season is Upon Us

29 Nov, 2007

A Christmas Carol is up and running, and it has proven as huge a production to mount as Cabaret. Two shows the size of Ben Hur back to back has taken its toll on our production department, but seems to be making audiences happy.

Ted Roisum, who you’ve seen in numerous productions at PCS (King Lear, The Devils, Another, Much Ado) is seen here as the scary Ghost of Jacob Marley, with Wesley Mann as Scrooge.

Julianna Jaffe,the Ghost of Christmas Present, has one of the more memorable entrances in recent history - and throws an homage to Joanne Worley into the mix - just for kicks.

I sat in front of a group of middle schoolers last night, and loved hearing the gasps when Jacob Marley entered; and the “what the heck” when the Ghost of Christmas Past entered. They sang along quietly with some of the carols.

But the best: at the very end, the 12 year old girl behind me leaned over to her friend and said, “I liked that play. I liked that Christmas play. I’d like to see that again.”

Since then, I received this very gracious feedback by email:

I attended the performance last night, Thursday, November 29.
I just wanted to say Thank You for bringing back the original version of A Christmas Carol.
This play has been missing from Oregon for years.
The sets and costumes were wonderful.
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!
~Helen

Many happy returns of the season. We look forward to seeing you at the show!

published in Portland Center Stage

2 comments

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Jeffrey Gillespie said in 12-2-2007 @ 17:50:42

I was really impressed by the complexity of the sets and the degree of timing required to make the whole thing come off properly. My date, who has worked on and off with Royal Shakespeare, commented on how well it all went, and on Wesley Mann’s Brit accent which was described as “plummy perfection”. Well done!

Carol said in 12-10-2007 @ 17:23:45

I attended the matinee performance yesterday (Dec. 9) along with TEN of my friends. Without exception, every one of us thought this to be one of the very best plays we have ever seen! The sets were magnificent, the costumes superb, the sound and lighting were exceptional, the music delightful and sometimes haunting, and the cast was outstanding! We were truly impressed with the professionalism of the entire show! Many thanks to everyone for providing Portland with its very own “Broadway”!