A Country Christmas Carol

music and lyrics by Albert Evans, book and lyrics by Ron Kaehler

A Country Christmas Carol is ideal family holiday fare—fresh, engaging, often hilarious, and genuinely moving. It's a timeless tale of redemption and reunion, community and family, the kind of story that was made for country music.

Music

Selections from the score may be listened to while opening the various other components in pdf.

Script

Download or open The Full Script in Adobe Reader.

Score

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Breakdown

  1. Eb Scrooge - character man, 60ish
  2. Bobbie Jo Cratchit/Belle - young leading lady, 30s
  3. Jane Cratchit/Child Fanny - girl: 12-13
  4. Tim Cratchit/Boy Eb – boy: 8-9
  5. Dwight Scrooge/Young Eb - young leading/character man, 30s, plays guitar
  6. Lavinia/Spirit of Christmas Past – character woman, 50ish
  7. Charley/Train Conductor/Delbert Kincaid/Spirit of Christmas Present – middle-aged character man
  8. Spirit of Christmas Future
  9. An ensemble of Townpeople may be added.

Synopsis

Season’s Greetings from Marley County, U.S.A., where folks don't have a whole lot, but where everybody's doing what they can to make the Christmas holiday crackle. Except for one mean and miserly old coot who somehow misses the whole point. Ring a bell? It's Dickens' classic, dusted off and gussied up in a new country-western musical version with “a fun holiday twist and songs that get the toes tapping or touch the heart." ( Sarasota Herald-Tribune)

A Country Christmas Carol is a tale of redemption and reunion, community and family, filled with a feisty bunch of characters who deal head-on with life's joys and heartaches. There’s Banker Scrooge, the meanest man in town; his secretary Bobbie Jo Cratchit, a young widow who sings like Patsy Cline and lives in a trailer community with her two small children, Jane and Tim; Scrooge’s lovable ne'er-do-well nephew Dwight; Lavinia, a good-ol'-girl with big hair and an even bigger heart; plus some decidedly Country Christmas spirits.

A Country Christmas Carol zooms by like a Christmas train. It’s an inspirational and exhilarating show overflowing with the courage and grit of good folks celebrating the holiday season.

Notes

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Development Notes

World premiere commissioned and directed by James Rocco, Lyric Theatre of Oklahoma, 1996 Presented in New York by National Music Theatre Network’s MainStreet Musicals series — WON DIRECTORS’ CHOICE AWARD (Walter Bobbie season), 1999 Cast recording available on Amazon and Spotify Now fully licensed and available through Dramatic Publishing

Albert Evans: Composer-in-Residence at Paper Mill Playhouse for 10 years (Great Expectations, Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights, A Tale of Two Cities, Mikado Inc.); Artistic Associate at 5th Avenue Theatre Seattle; also wrote Pageant (Off-Broadway hit; Time Magazine top 10; London/Australia/Japan), Nite Club Confidential, Texas Chainsaw Musical; lyrics for New York City Opera’s Merry Widow (Live from Lincoln Center PBS) Ron Kaehler: wrote six editions of The Story Salad Shows (TheatreWorks USA national tours); specialty material for Marin Mazzie, Mary Testa, Jessica Molaskey and others; Broadway Cares/EFA benefits