This past Sunday saw the final performance of A Christmas Carol (Dec. 5–21, 2008), at least for this year. And of course on Tuesday it was Christmas Day, and, as you all know the Ghost of Christmas Present’s life ends midnight on Christmas Day.
So, it is with a little sadness that I mark the passing of my rendition of the Ghost of Christmas Present. It was a fun role to do, all the way from the first day I put on the stilts and wobbled my way around to the final performance when Scrooge and I took an extra beat at the end of our scene to say a silent goodbye.
Talking of those stilts, you also wouldn’t believe the muscles that hurt after wearing them. There were several performances where my legs would be trembling from the effort in standing still as some action happened on some other part of the stage. You don’t realize the effort needed until you don this 50lb costume with three layers of padding and then just stand there as the Cratchit’s sing their song. At least I never fell down wearing them (which would have been an adventure, let me tell you), although there were a couple of times it was a close shave.
I’d like to thank the wonderful audiences we had throughout the run. Everybody seemed to enjoy it, although I must say it was the kids in the audience that seemed to enjoy it the most. I talked to a few of them after performances and they were fascinated with the whole production, how the smoke worked, how Marley came up out of the floor (and, better, disappeared into it), how the set flew in, and so on. Whenever there’s an opportunity for kids to look behind the magic of the theatre, there’s always a line of them waiting.
And of course thanks to those fine people at the FAC (you know who you are!) who let us Ghosts write about what was going on with the show. I certainly had fun doing these blog entries.
And with that, see you next time!
Cheers, Julian