Hello New England holiday revelers. “Locally New England” has been busy making plans to maximize your December joy. If you’re one of the many for whom Trinity Rep’s annual “A Christmas Carol” production is a seasonal must, you don’t want to miss it this year with a Trinity favorite, Anne Scurria taking the lead role. Buckle in and discover why it will be among the biggest and best “Scrooge” productions in the theater’s rich history, and how the Providence Performing Arts Center will be lending a hand.
Trinity Rep’s “A Christmas Carol:” Dickens Headlining At PPAC
Over 45 years: That’s how long Providence’s Trinity Repertory Company has been presenting the holiday classic Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol.” It’s truly become an integral part of many Southeastern New Englanders holiday season for generations. The publication Broadway World has said of its annual reimagining, “Every year is a different and incredibly wonderful experience.”
This week, longtime Trinity favorite Anne Scurria drops by LNE to chat with Joe Guarneri. Anne Scurria has the lead role this year. She has not played Scrooge in 22 years and is looking forward to stepping into those famous bed clothes once again. This year though, due to major construction at Trinity’s home theater, they will be presenting “A Christmas Carol” from the cavernous stage of the Providence Performing Arts Center,” a notion Scurria adores.
“It’s really exciting,” she said. “I think the upstairs theater at Trinity holds about 550 to 600 people and PPAC holds 3,000. It’s going to be a real challenge, but we have terrific people working on the show and we are so excited.”
Scurria also noted that familiarity with the story does not lessen its impact, particularly because it is such a heartening show. “There’s hope for all of us that we can change and embrace each other, especially in this time. I mean We need it now.”
For more on Trinity Rep’s “A Christmas Carol,” tune into this week’s episode of “Locally New England.”
Providence Performing Arts Center: Nourishing Providence’s Arts Community
The Providence Performing Arts Center, affectionately known as PPAC, is in full holiday mode this year. They’re generously extending their theater space to fellow Providence arts institution Trinity Rep so that the under-construction Trinity will still be able to present their annual “A Christmas Carol” this season. PPAC’s President J.L. “Lynn” Singleton dropped in on Joe to share some theater info.
Singleton explained that inviting Trinity Rep into PPAC for “A Christmas Carol” does create a little extra shuffling due to a split run for the Christmas classic. With “Hamilton” returning to PPAC this month from Dec 11 through the 22nd. The already up and running Christmas Carol will need to break their run to accommodate, only to have to rebuild for the remaining holiday performances after “Hamilton” leaves. PPAC does not have a dark day in the building until New Years Eve.
In what is certainly great news for PPAC and the city, Singleton shares, “We’ve had a spectacular fall. Retail-wise, we’ve opened two national tours. Both of them did 97 percent business … and then we rolled into “Mama Mia” which did 98 percent business from ticket one, so we’ve put about 75,000 people into the city to see a Broadway show over last 2.5 months.”
“Locally New England” has more with PPAC on this week’s show.
Also featured on this week’s “Locally New England:”
- Junior Achievement of Rhode Island’s upcoming expo, “Project Inspire”
- The Rhode Island Community Food Bank fights food insecurity
Happy Holidays to all!
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Tune in to “Locally New England.” Catch Meredith and Joe on YurView, Cox Channel 4…
