Balladeer’s Blog’s TENTH Annual Christmas Carol-A-Thon continues with this review.
THE GUTHRIE THEATER PRESENTS A CHRISTMAS CAROL (1982) – Stage performances of any story getting filmed for video are pretty hit and miss, but this production is much more of a hit than a miss. The Guthrie Theater Presents A Christmas Carol was filmed at the famed Minnesota theater of the title and aired on The Entertainment Channel in 1982 before being released on VHS.
This presentation of the Dickens classic uses the framing device of Charles Dickens (Marshall Borden) himself being persuaded by Christmas party guests to treat them to his most famous Yuletide ghost story. Dickens is at first reluctant since he’s feeling a bit harried and stressed out, so he huffily clears the room.
Needless to say the act of recounting A Christmas Carol to us viewers winds up restoring his holiday cheer. By the time he closes the framing device at the end of the play he’s as jovial and hearty as Nephew Fred and delivers the whole “good old city, town or boro in the good old world” speech with memorable panache. Continue reading
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