A CHRISTMAS CAROL (1964): CHRISTMAS CAROL-A-THON 2013 CONTINUES …

ANGELO BADALAMENTI

Welcome back to Balladeer’s Blog’s Fourth Annual Christmas Carol-A-Thon! It’s the time of year when I examine countless adaptations of the Dickens classic from television, movies, radio and elsewhere! As always new versions will be sprinkled in with the old standards.

A CHRISTMAS CAROL (1964) – My fellow Twin Peaks geeks are always stunned when I tell them that THE Angelo Badalamenti provided the music for this adaptation of A Christmas Carol. This particular presentation was produced by New York Public Broadcasting and starred students from Brooklyn’s High School of Performing Arts and Junior High School 201. Badalamenti was a teacher at the school as was John Clifford, who wrote the narration and the lyrics to the songs.

The show was a broadcast of the school’s 45 minute stage performance, gaffes and all but since it’s just young people in the roles the overall feel is charming rather than awkward. The production is also pretty ambitious with its original songs. Teresa Ursino portrays Scrooge’s sister Fan and sings Yuletide Shepherd, a song about a particular shepherd summoned by angels on the first Christmas. Connie DiGiovanni plays Belle, Scrooge’s lost love and sings My World Without You after their breakup. Leonard Johnson’s Tiny Tim throws off his crutch and goes mobile for a fantasy sequence while belting out the musical’s most memorable song Some Day.

The main cast is rounded out by John Monestero as Scrooge and Nephew Fred portrayed by Phillip Petrone (Did I mention it was 1960’s Brooklyn?) Peaks Geeks and fans of amateur musical performances by talented youngsters need to be made aware of this Carol! 

FOR MORE VERSIONS OF A CHRISTMAS CAROL CLICK HERE: https://glitternight.com/category/a-christmas-carol-2/

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