Earlier this year, I attended a performance of a now-legendary (in some circles) production of A Christmas Carol at the Kodak Theater in Hollywood. My friends Paul Dini and Misty Lee had an extra ticket and they invited me, little realizing they were inviting me to experience a theatrical disaster. Many of the advertised stars were not present and the ones who were didn't know their lines and had to cope with sets that didn't work or weren't in the right place at the right time. It was screw-up after screw-up after screw-up and that wasn't where the troubles ended. The Los Angeles Times reported on much audience anger and on a stage crew that was claiming to not have been paid…or at least, not paid when they were supposed to be paid.
Pretty much everything that could have gone wrong went wrong…and you'd think that the producer-director behind it all would never again try anything of the sort. Wrong. He's selling tickets now for an all-star production of A Christmas Carol that is scheduled to play Chicago, Minneapolis, Philadelphia, Boston and Baltimore.
The original announcements (and some still online) say that F. Murray Abraham will portray Ebenezer Scrooge with Timothy Hutton as Bob Cratchit, Stockard Channing as the Ghost of Christmas Past and Mrs. Cratchit, Wayne Knight as the Ghost of Christmas Present and George Wendt as various characters. James Garner is to play Charles Dickens, narrating the story from a writer's desk at one side of the stage. At least, that's how it was two weeks ago. The other day, it was announced that despite the ads, Hutton and Channing will not be part of the show.
I actually hope the folks behind this production get their act together. A lot of folks were disappointed at what played the Kodak last Christmas and it would be nice to think that won't happen again. They seem to be off to a good start, losing two of their stars this far ahead. When Paul, Misty and I went to see the show, we didn't find out Gene Wilder and Jane Seymour weren't in it until we were in our seats.