Talk about ghosts from Christmas past.
Actor/producer/director Gerald Charles Dickens, 36, is making his Boston debut next week in his acclaimed solo performance of "A Christmas Carol."
He's performing Nov. 27, a 2 and 8 p.m. at Tremont Temple, 88 Tremont St., where his great-great-grandfather, the world famous novelist who wrote the story in 1839, gave an enraptured audience the first reading of it this side of the Atlantic in 1867. Tremont Temple was built as the Tremont Theatre in 1827.
Here's how the Boston Journal newspaper described the reading, as quoted in Edward F. Payne's book "Dickens Days in Boston" (Houghton Mifflin, 1927): "The dolorous, surly tones of Old Scrooge, his grim humor in the interview with the first ghost, the chattering Cratchits, poor little Tiny Tim, the dance in old Fezziwig's warehouse, Scrooge's purchase of the prize turkey, and other characters and incidents were delineated in a manner which only the author of these inimitable creations could achieve."
Gerald, who resembles Charles at 36, performs the 26 voices in his ancestor's classic tale. He is visiting 14 states on his fourth holiday tour of the States. He met recently with Boston media at the Omni Parker House - where, when it was Gerald Dickens came to his appreciation of his great-great-grandfather late. "For years I avoided anything to do with Dickens like the plague." The first time he was asked to read "A Christmas Carol," he waited until two days before his reading to open the book. "I'd better read this," he decided, started to panic. After reading it, he realized with a shock the "power" of the dialog and that, in 90 minutes, he was charged with nothing less than "giving it at life." I finally came up with Scrooge's voice and Cratchit's voice. I'd later learn that Charles used to rehearse 200 to 300 times in front of a mirror."
He noted that Scrooge has been played by everyone from Henry Winkler to Whoope Goldberg, and his favorite "Christmas Carol" is the 1961 British movie with the inimitable Alastair Sim as Scrooge. His father's favorite Scrooge, however, is George C. Scott's: "A big powerful businessman who tramples everyone in his way." He also confesses to his delight with the 1992 "Muppet Christ Carol" that "introduces the story to a whole new generation. It's got big chunks in it with the original dialogue." Still, "every version works because the story's so perfect. It has so much comedy, humor, and terror."
Gerald Dickens believes the story endures because there's something for every audience to identify with. "We're all Cratchits, we're all overworked at Christmas. We all feel guilty when we see someone collecting (money) on the street." another secret to the story's success is, he says, that it "sums up the spirit without religion. Dickens was a religious man without a bias."
The author was easy to identify with, too. "He'd spent a lot of time on the streets. His parents had been thrown into debtors prison. He'd seen it all from the lowest to the highest."
Charles dashed off the story in three weeks, Gerald Dickens said and had viewed the original manuscript just a few weeks ago in New York. The original plot comes from a portion of Charles' "The Pickwick Papers".
The New York Times has described Gerald Dicken's performance as "a once in a lifetime brush with literary history." You can talk to him after the show and learn his family's recipe for chestnut stuffing as well as its cure for overindulging. Also in hs repertoire is "Mr. Dickens is Coming!" a one-man show he wrote and performs exclusively. His other performances include "A Child's Journey with Dickens," performed in a vintage railroad car that tells about at American child's ride with Dickens in 1868. |
