From the King Street Chronicle: A Christmas Carol Performance Shines

Restoring Holiday Heart with A Christmas Carol

By Emilia Oliva ‘27, Staff Writer

As a hush fell over the audience in the Lennie and John de Csepel Theatre, the cast and crew of A Christmas Carol transformed the stage into the bustling city of Victorian Era London on Christmas Eve in Ms. Lynn Stevens’ adaptation of Mr. Charles Dickens’ 1843 novella. Under the direction of Miss Michaela Gorman ’05, Upper School Theatre Teacher and Director of Theatrical Productions, and Miss Danielle Gennaro ’05, Bell Choir Director and Technical Director, the cast and crew conveyed the true meaning of Christmas through the classic story of redemption and kindness. The Sacred Heart Greenwich community and guests enjoyed the heartwarming production November 21 and November 22 at 7 p.m.

A Christmas Carol follows a bitter old businessman, Ebenezer Scrooge, played by Callie Regnery ’26, who refuses to take part in the holiday cheer of Christmas. While others celebrate with family and friends, Scrooge keeps to himself and subjects those around him to his misery. He snaps at the joyful people around him, doesn’t allow his meek clerk to take Christmas Day off to spend time with his family, and refuses an invitation for Christmas dinner from his nephew, Fred, portrayed by Annie Slocum ’26.

At Scrooge’s home on the night of Christmas Eve, the ghost of his deceased business partner, Jacob Marley, played by junior Charlotte Morningstar, confronts him with a warning. If Scrooge continues to follow his cold-hearted ways, he will meet the same fate as Marley, who, in the afterlife, suffers under the chains of his own greedy and selfish choices. Soon after, the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Future appear to Scrooge throughout the night, played by Mary Ellen Dolan ’28, Lizzy Hartnett ’27, and Eleanor Kelleher ’28, respectively.  The spirits guide him through the scenes of his life and reveal to him the error of his ways.

Senior Caroline Gammon played Scrooge’s underpaid, overworked clerk, Bob Cratchit, with a touching sense of optimism, starkly contrasting Scrooge’s bitterness. The audience watched as Bob faced the difficult challenges in his own life, as a poor, working-class man in London. He struggles to provide for his wife and six children and is unable to afford medical help for his son, Tiny Tim, who suffers from a debilitating illness throughout the play.

Despite financial setbacks, Bob remains hopeful. He celebrates Christmas with his family and is kind to everyone in his life, even to Scrooge, who is to blame for Bob’s inability to afford medical help for his son. Bob’s unwavering compassion for others inspires both Scrooge and the audience to embrace kindness and generosity, even in the face of hardship.

The audience watched Scrooge change from a grouchy, selfish businessman to a kindhearted man who partakes in the magical Christmas spirit by the end of the play. The spirits of Christmas Past, Present, and Future shape this transformation by guiding Scrooge through memories of his past Christmases, cheerful scenes of Fred’s and Bob’s holidays, and an ominous message of Scrooge’s demise if he does not change his ways. The storyline reminded the audience of the possibility of change and fulfillment even when hope seems lost. Callie reflected on her process of revealing this dramatic shift to the audience through acting.

“I use Scrooge’s backstory and character development work with Miss Gorman to make his initial appearance angry and cruel, to a more softer, warmer character,” Callie said. “I change my physicality slightly with being stiff and upright at the beginning to being more flexible and less strict at the end of the show. Miss Gorman always uses the analogy of painting a picture for the audience with your face and movement, so for the time I am on stage, I work towards making every nuance and expression noticeable for the audience and play off of my other cast members and their stories too.”

Productions like A Christmas Carol require collaboration not only from the performers but also from the stage crew and tech crew.  Every aspect of lighting cues, soundboard operation, and set changes relies on coordination and teamwork. Junior Frankie Hinton worked on tech crew and operated the light board during the performances.  She commented on the close-knit community of the theatre program and how the cast and crew deal with inevitable obstacles in live theatre.

“In general, I’d say that we maintain a positive environment pretty easily,” Frankie said. “Everyone is so much fun and so supportive that we normally end up laughing and taking a moment to reset if challenges arise. As a whole, everyone involved is genuinely such a joy to be around which makes any difficulties easy to get past.”

Featured Image by Emilia Oliva ’27 

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