Westport Country Playhouse has partnered with WSHU Public Radio to present a free-of-charge audio play, A Merry Little Christmas Carol, based on the Charles Dickens classic A Christmas Carol.
The show airs on Saturday, December 19 at noon. In our area, WSHU is FM 91.1. The play will be rebroadcast on Saturday, December 26, at 8:00 pm.
For children ages 5–8 and their parents, the Playhouse also offers a live children’s version of the Dickens classic on Zoom, again for free. A Christmas Carol Storytime runs on Saturday, December 12, at 10:00 am, for about one hour.
The program is interactive, bringing A Christmas Carol to life with a downloadable activity book. You can register to receive a Zoom link, and you’re all set.
A Merry Little Christmas Carol
The audio play A Merry Little Christmas Carol was written and is directed by Mark Shanahan. It runs about two hours and is still appropriate for kids ages six and up.
Mr. Shanahan is a fan favorite at the Playhouse. Elsewhere, he has directed at Alley Theatre, George Street Playhouse, Theatre Square, Merrimack Rep, The Cape Playhouse, and many more. He is the author of the Off-Broadway and regional hit comedy, The Dingdong.
Paxton Whitehead, another fan favorite, plays the role of Ebenezer Scrooge. The rest of the cast features a number of Playhouse alumni. John Gromada, a composer and sound designer for theater, film, television, and dance, conceived the show’s original music, sound design, and audio production.
“A tale filled with hope and promise”
Part ghost story, part celebration, A Merry Little Christmas Carol brings to life the miserly Ebenezer Scrooge—the curmudgeon everyone loves to hate—the Spirits of Christmas Past, Present and Future, the festive Fezziwigs, and the darling Cratchit family with the ever-hopeful Tiny Tim.
“It is a tale filled with hope and promise,” said Mr. Shanahan, “reminding us that it is never too late to become our best selves. Dickens’ masterpiece charges us to recall that we are all responsible for the wellbeing of our brothers and sisters—an idea which rings true now more than ever.”
After each of the two acts in A Merry Little Christmas Carol on the radio broadcast, Tom Kuser, WSHU’s program director and Morning Edition host, interviews Mr. Shanahan, Mr. Gromada, A. Rima Dael, WHSU’s station manager, and Mark Lamos, artistic director of Westport Country Playhouse.
For more information, visit westportplayhouse.org. Or, email boxoffice@westportplayhouse.org. You can also call the box office at (203) 227-4177, Tuesday through Friday, noon to 6:00 pm. The physical box office is closed, but a limited staff is working from home and replying within 72 hours of inquiry.
Mark Shanahan, writer and director, A Merry Little Christmas Carol.