The holiday season is upon us, and Kansas City is full of Scrooges!
This year, the city's theater scene is offering traditional and comedic takes on Charles Dickens' 1843 classic “A Christmas Carol.”
For more than 20 years, Gary Neal Johnson has played Ebenezer Scrooge in the traditional adaptation of "A Christmas Carol” at the Kansas City Repertory Theatre. (The production runs through Dec. 28.)
Johnson told KCUR's Up To Date that each year he gets a new understanding of Dickens’ message.
“Every year there's something in the script, there's something in the story, there's a line or phrase, something that I think, ‘Oh, Dickens is telling us this as well,’ and I just never really picked up on that before,” Johnson said.
At the Unicorn Theatre, five actors recreate a fast-paced, modern adaptation of the holiday classic set in Kansas City, with references to social media and music from Missouri-born indie-pop artist Chappell Roan.
The nearly two-century-old story is “universal,” according to Ron Megee, who plays the protagonist in the Unicorn's "Ebenezer Scrooge's Big KC MO Christmas Show" (running through Dec. 22).
“Something about this story is so true. The arc can fit many people's journeys,” Megee said.
Cathy Barnett, the voice of “Maxine” from the line of Hallmark greeting cards, brings the character to life as a crabby DMV volunteer in “Maxine’s Christmas Carol,” a musical comedy on stage at Union Station (through Dec. 22).
For Barnett, it's an easy transformation to play a character who doesn't care what others think.
“I’m just doing my mother,” Barnett said. “I think that is the most relatable thing about this show. Everybody has a Maxine in their life, and we're all a little Maxine ourselves.”
- Gary Neal Johnson, Ebenezer Scrooge in "A Christmas Carol," KC Rep
- Ron Megee, Ebenezer Scrooge in "Ebenezer Scrooge’s Big KC MO Christmas Show," Unicorn Theatre
- Cathy Barnett, Maxine in "Maxine's Christmas Carol," City Stage at Union Station
