"A Christmas Carol Reimagined"
An Opera
Based on the Novella by Charles Dickens
Music and Lyrics by Stephen and Teresa Gashler
Character List
• Ebenezer Scrooge - an elderly miser
• Bob Cratchit - Scrooge's clerk
• Jacob Marley - Scrooge's deceased partner
• The Ghost of Christmas Past
• The Ghost of Christmas Present
• Fred/Felicity - Scrooge's nephew/niece
• Young Scrooge
• Belle - Young Scrooge's love
• Mr./Mrs. Fezziwig - Young Scrooge's employer
• Mr./Ms. Manchester - a philanthropist
• Tiny Tim/Tess - Bob's sickly son/daughter
• Emily Cratchit - Bob's wife
• Martha - Bob's daughter
• Maria - wife of Fred or friend of Felicity
• Ghost of Christmas Future
• Ignorance - a sickly child
• Want - a sickly child
• Robbers
• Businessmen
• Chorus
1. office
Christmas CAROLERS sing outside of the office "Scrooge and Marley", where Ebenezer SCROOGE (an elderly miser) and BOB Cratchit (Scrooge's humble employee) are at work.
Carolers
God rest ye merry, gentlemen.
Let nothing you dismay.
Remember Christ our Savior
Was born on Christmas day
To save us all from Satan's pow'r
When we were gone astray.
Oh tidings of comfort and joy,
Comfort and joy.
Oh tidings of comfort and joy.
Bob
Christ to save us! Comfort and joy!
That warms my weary soul
And gives a hope for brighter days,
More than candle or coal.
Scrooge
Those good-for-nothing lazy saps,
They sing instead of work.
Don’t fall for their waste of time.
Keep your pace, my clerk.
Enter FRED (Scrooge's nephew).
Fred
Uncle Scrooge, I'm glad you're well.
I bring you Christmas cheer.
Scrooge
Bah, humbug, nephew. Not again.
Please make it quick this year.
Fred
HUMBUG, CHRISTMAS?
Really, man?
Scrooge
How can you be so merry?
You’re poor enough to make you grave.
You should be more wary.
Fred
And you’re rich enough to have some fun,
And rise from the abysmal.
Fred, bob
The celebration's just begun.
How can you be so dismal?
Scrooge
Bob!
Bob
Sorry, sir.
Scrooge
All around, it's feast and play
Without financial footing.
I'd like to see each Christmas fool
Be boiled in his own pudding.
Fred
Though it puts no money in my purse,
There's joy and holiness
As folks reach out to give and bless,
Curing loneliness.
Carolers
Oh tidings of comfort and joy,
Comfort and joy.
Oh tidings of comfort and joy.
Fred
Don’t be angry, uncle, dear.
I came to set things right.
Please join us for a dinner
At my home tomorrow night.
Scrooge
Good afternoon.
Fred
For if you change your mind,
We'll keep a seat.
Merry Christmas, all the same.
I hope you feel complete.
Exit FRED.
Carolers
From God, our Heavenly Father,
A blessed angel came,
And unto certain shepherds
Brought tidings of the same:
How that in Bethlehem was born
The Son of God by name.
Oh tidings of comfort and joy,
Comfort and joy.
Oh tidings of comfort and joy.
Enter MRS. MANCHESTER.
Mrs. Manchester
Good day, sir. How do you do?
How blessed and lucky are we,
When many long for food and warmth,
But are you Scrooge or Marley?
Scrooge
My partner Marley’s dead for years.
He died this very evening.
Mrs. Manchester
I’m sorry for this dreadful news,
To barge upon your grieving.
I’m raising money for the poor.
Please think upon their plight.
Scrooge
Aren't there prisons, well enough,
To keep them out of sight?
Mrs. Manchester
There are, I fear,
Such labor houses,
Each a filthy den.
What will you give to charity
To your raise your fellow men?
Scrooge
Nothing.
Mrs. Manchester
You wish to remain unnamed?
Scrooge
I wish to be left alone!
Set the poor to work in jail.
That's where I'll give donations.
But if they'd rather starve,
They'll drop the surplus population.
Bob Cratchit
I'll give what little bit I have
To ease their suff'ring hearts.
Mrs. Manchester
(to Bob)
God bless you, sir.
(to Scrooge)
God help you, sir.
Now I must depart.
Scrooge
I suppose you'll be wanting tomorrow off.
Bob
If it's quite convenient, sir.
Scrooge
It's not convenient, and it's no excuse for picking a man's pocket every year.
Exit MRS. MANCHESTER.
Scrooge
I suppose you’ll want your Christmas off.
Bob Cratchit
If it's quite convenient.
Scrooge
It isn't, Bob.
It's robbery.
But shall I once be lenient?
Carolers
Now to the Lord sing praises,
All you within this place,
And with true love and brotherhood
Each other now embrace.
This holy tide of Christmas
All other doth deface.
Oh tidings of comfort and joy,
Comfort and joy.
Oh tidings of comfort and joy.
Scrooge
I don't know what's come over me.
Perhaps I'm going soft.
Come early on the twenty-sixth,
And take your Christmas off.
Bob
Thank you, sir! God bless you, sir!
SCROOGE
How can you be so merry?
You’re poor enough to make your grave.
You should be more wary.
Aside, enter FRED and MRS. MANCHESTER.
FRED, MRS. MANCHESTER, BOB
And you’re rich enough to have some fun,
And rise from the abysmal.
The celebration's just begun.
How can you be so dismal?
BOB
Thank you, sir! God bless you, sir!
SCROOGE
How can you be so merry?
You’re poor enough to make you grave.
You should be more wary.
FRED, MRS. MANCHESTER, BOB
And you’re rich enough to have some fun,
And rise from the abysmal.
The celebration's just begun.
How can you be so dismal?
CAROLERS
God rest ye merry, gentlemen.
Let nothing you dismay.
Remember Christ our Savior
Was born on Christmas day.
God rest ye merry, gentlemen.
Let nothing you dismay.
Remember Christ our Savior
Was born on Christmas day.
chorus
To save us all from Satan's pow'r
When we were gone astray.
Oh tidings of comfort and joy,
Comfort and joy.
Oh tidings of comfort and joy.
Scrooge
Bah, humbug!
2. Scrooge's house
Marley
(faintly)
Scrooge ...
Chorus
Lulee lulay, thou little tiny child,
Bye bye, lulee lulay.
Oh sisters too, how may we do
For to preserve this day?
This poor youngling for whom we do sing
Bye bye, lulee lulay.
Marley
Scroooge ...
Scrooge
Marley?
I thought I saw something
I cannot explain:
The knocker was Marley,
His face, clear and plain.
Now I hear moaning
And dragging of chains.
Is something out there,
Or am I deranged?
Humbug, these terrors.
Get out of my head!
Just as a doornail,
You’re certainly dead!
Chorus
Herod the king, in his raging
With men of might,
He charged this day,
All children young to slay!
Enter MARLEY.
Marley
Scrooge!
Scrooge
Specter of the frigid night,
Tell me what you want with me.
Marley
Don’t you recognize your partner,
Bound and broken Marley?
Scrooge
Tell me why the heavy chains?
In life you made so many gains.
MARLEY
Here I stand for you to witness,
Every link I made myself.
I should known that my true business
Wasn’t found in hoarding wealth.
Every soul I turned away
Grew my burden, day by day.
MANKIND WAS MY BUSINESS! YET I NEVER HELPED ANYONE BUT MYSELF.
Scrooge
Tell me, please tell me
That hope yet awaits.
MARLEY
I came to warn you,
Before it’s too late.
Marley
Ere the night passes,
Three spirits shall come.
What ever they show you,
Don’t scream and don’t run.
For many do carry
The chains that they made.
Just look out the window,
They wander your way.
CHORUS
Lulee lulay, thou little tiny child,
Bye bye, lulee lulay.
Oh sisters too, how may we do
For to preserve this day?
This poor youngling for whom we do sing
Bye bye, lulee lu --
Marley
The first spirit shall come at one o'clock. Be ready.
SCROOGE
Specter of the frigid night,
Tell me what you want with me.
MARLEY
Don’t you recognize your partner,
Bound and broken Marley?
SCROOGE
Tell me why the heavy chains?
In life you made so many gains.
CHORUS
Lulee lulay,
Thou little tiny child,
Oh sisters too,
How may we do?
This poor youngling,
For whom we do sing.
MARLEY
Here I stand for you to witness,
Every link I made myself.
I should known that my true business
Wasn’t found in hoarding wealth.
CHORUS
Lulee lulay,
Thou little tiny child,
Oh sisters too,
How may we do?
This poor youngling,
For whom we do sing.
Marley, chorus
Every soul I turned away
Grew my burden, day by day --
Scrooge
I'm going to bed.
Blackout.
3. Scrooge's house
SCROOGE gets out of bed.
"Past"
scrooge
He said I'd meet a ghost at one o'clock.
Will he burst right through the door,
Or will he knock?
It's almost time, at last.
I wish that it were past.
Each dreary second's loaded with
Such pain, I want it over with.
Perhaps I ought to hide or run,
For now the time is nearly one!
A clock chimes one.
Scrooge
It's one!
And there's no spirit,
Which means I dreamed the whole encounter.
There's no spirit,
And my mind is feeling sounder.
There's no spirit.
(laughs)
Now it all comes into question.
Why to fear it?
Was it caused by indigestion.
There's no --
Enter the Ghost of Christmas PAST.
Past
Scrooge.
Scrooge
Specter of the frigid night,
If you must haunt me, make it fast.
Past
I came to show what's been forgotten.
I'm the ghost of Christmas past.
Have no fear. Just take my hand.
Soon enough you'll under--
SCROOGE reluctantly takes PAST's hand.
4. Fezziwig's house
Past
--stand.
Enter CAROLERS.
chorus
I saw three ships come sailing in
On Christmas day, on Christmas day.
I saw three ships come sailing in
On Christmas day in the morning.
Past
Shadows of a yester year
Show one who's all alone.
Do you know this younger man,
Who's far away from home?
Scrooge
It's me!
Past
While all the other boys returned
To spend their Christmas happily,
Your father never brought you home
To pass the days with family.
Scrooge
Humbug. I had my books.
Past
Jump ahead a year or four
And pass with me right through the door
To see a young man slaving.
No time for misbehaving.
Scrooge
I know this place. I can't forget
My very first apprenticeship.
Past
While others danced a Christmas jig --
Scrooge
I worked for Missus Fezziwig.
Enter FEZZIWIG.
Chorus
O they sailed in to Bethlehem
On Christmas day, on Christmas day.
O they sailed into Bethlehem
On Christmas day in the morning.
Fezziwig
Enough of all this drudgery.
Forget the books and ledgers.
Move the tables. Bring the punch,
For here we are together.
No more work. The time is spent.
It's time for joy and merriment,
For Christmas Eve sensations.,
Join in the celebration.
Scrooge
So good and kind, she had the pow'r
To transform ev'ry gloomy hour
And make a young man take a chance
To stand upon his feet and dance.
FEZZIWIG, YOUNG SCROOGE, and FEZZIWIG's workers dance.
"Belle"
FEZZIWIG introduces YOUNG SCROOGE to BELLE (a young woman).
FEZZIWIG
Ebenezer, have you met
My dear friend, the lovely Belle?
YOUNG SCROOGE dances with BELLE.
Past
Can you still remember her,
The one you loved so well?
Scrooge
Spirit, why must you torture me
With these haunting visions?
PAST
Whether sorrow, whether joy,
It came from your decisions.
Chorus
In the bleak mid-winter
Frosty wind made moan,
Earth stood hard as iron,
Water like a stone.
Time has passed. YOUNG SCROOGE turns away from BELLE to work at a desk.
BELLE
Now it's been so many years.
Tell me when, when at last we'll be wed?
Young Scrooge
Patience, Belle, for we mustn't rush
If we want to get ahead.
Belle
Who cares for wealth if our love burns on?
If we're poor, then so be it!
Where have the warmth and the laughter gone?
How you changed! Can't you see it?
Chorus
Snow had fallen, snow on snow,
Snow on snow,
In the bleak mid-winter
Long ago.
Young Scrooge
I only want the best for us.
One more year to save is all that I need.
Belle
Either we marry within the month
Or it's never to be.
Young scrooge
You ask to much!
Belle
Then you've made your choice.
Young scrooge
I suppose that's so.
Belle
If wealth you want, then wealth you'll get.
I release you.
Scrooge
Please Don't go!
Exit BELLE.
Chorus
Oo ...
Scrooge
(to young Scrooge)
After her, you fool! You'll regret it all your days! Spirit, why must i relive this pain?
SCROOGE collapses in depression.
Past
Whether sorrow, weather joy,
It came from your decisions.
Chorus
What can I give Him,
Poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd
I would bring a lamb,
If I were a wise man
I would do my part,
Yet what I can I give Him,
Give my heart.
Blackout.
5. Scrooge's house
SCROOGE is still collapsed. Enter the ghost of Christmas PRESENT (a jolly giant dressed in a green robe with a wreath on his head).
Present
See, the night is still young,
And your journey's just begun,
Of Christmas parties and feasting so pleasant.
Scrooge
Though I rather would stay,
I suspect you'll get your way.
I assume you're the ghost of the present.
Present
There is much yet to learn
If you heart will take a turn.
Do not fear. Just lay hold of my robe.
SCROOGE touches PRESENT's robe.