"A Christmas Carol" at the Guthrie Theater

The Guthrie Theater is celebrating 50 years of A Christmas Carol* this year, and as a 21-year season subscriber, I have seen 19 of those productions (including the virtual one in 2020). There simply is nothing like it. Charles Dickens' story is one of such hope, such joy, such belief in the idea that it's never too late to change and grow and become a better person, that gratitude, kindness, and generosity are the highest of virtues. After 50 years, the Guthrie's production is a well-oiled machine, guaranteed to deliver the finest entertainment and the best quality production. But in addition to feeling familiar and comfortable, it also feels fresh and new every year, with the addition of new faces or adaptations, and it's filled with so much sincerity and heart that it will melt the Scroogiest of hearts. This is their fourth year using this succinct and faithful adaptation by Lavina Jadhwani, and the absolutely stunning design, with director Addie Gorlin-Han returning from last year's production. So if you haven't seen the Guthrie's Christmas Carol since before the pandemic, you should definitely check out this new version before it closes on December 29. And even seeing it for the fourth time, it's still chock full of delights for the eyes, ears, heart, and soul.

"A Christmas Carol" at the Guthrie Theater

Despite the freakishly warm late fall weather we're having in mid-November, the #TCTheater holiday* season is in full swing! The Twin Cities Theater Bloggers recently previewed all of the shows in our podcast Twin Cities Theater Chat, in which I said that for me, it just isn't Christmas without the Guthrie's A Christmas Carol. This is my 20th season as a Guthrie season subscriber and my 17th time seeing A Christmas Carol (it's not part of the subscription, so I skipped a few years, but not many). For me, it's as warm, comforting, and familiar as your favorite holiday food that you only have once a year, that immediately puts you in that mood of community, festivity, and fellowship. In their 49th annual production, the Guthrie is using the adaptation by Lavina Jadhwani and new design that debuted in 2021, with a few slight tweaks. Compared to previous adaptations they've used, it's more streamlined, hitting all of the highlights as it moves briskly through this familiar story in under two hours (including intermission). Every element of design and production is stunning and efficient in telling the story, for a gorgeous spectacle that's also brimming with heart and good humor. As I've written about A Christmas Carol in the past, "I never tire of seeing it, because Charles Dickens' story of redemption, community, family, and human kindness never gets old. It's a beautiful and necessary thing to be reminded that 'what brings us together is greater than what drives us apart.' That it's never too late to change, to grow, to become a kinder and more generous person." Continue the tradition, or start a new one, at Guthrie Theater now through December 30.

"A Christmas Carol" at the Guthrie Theater

It's the Guthrie Theater's 60th season, and for about 80% of those years they've been producing Charles Dickens' classic story of redemption, A Christmas Carol. This year marks their 48th production, and my 16th time seeing it. It's obviously a beloved holiday* tradition in the #TCTheater community, one that I also love and have rarely missed in my 19 seasons as a subscriber. But why? Why do they keep doing it? Why do people keep seeing it? Why do I go back year after year? Read on for ten reasons** to see the Guthrie's A Christmas Carol this year before it closes on December 31.

"A Christmas Carol" at the Guthrie Theater

The Guthrie Theater's first production post-pandemic (not counting their hosting of the Broadway tour of What the Constitution Means to Me) is their annual tradition, A Christmas Carol. This is their 47th production, and my 15th time seeing it. It's obviously a beloved holiday* tradition in the #TCTheater community, one that I also love and have rarely missed in my 18 seasons as a subscriber. But why? Why do they keep doing it? Why do people keep seeing it? Why do I go back year after year? Read on for ten reasons to see the Guthrie's A Christmas Carol this year before it closes on December 27.

"Noura" at the Guthrie Theater

The night after seeing Jungle Theater's production of Lucas Hnath's sequel to Ibsen's A Doll's House, I saw Heather Raffo's Noura at the Guthrie Theater, which is, among many other things, a response to A Doll's House. But it's a much different story. This Noura is in an actually good marriage, not just a seemingly good marriage, with a supportive husband. But yet, as the playwright says in a note in a playbill, "women all around me, in strong marriages with truly great husbands, were drowning." But it's not just her role in her marriage that Noura is questioning, she's also questioning her very identity as an Iraqi refugee and new American citizen. She mourns for the culture and the community that she has lost, desperately trying to recreate it on different shores with a scattered family, and finally becoming overwhelmed by it all. As she says in the play, "I don't know how to let go and hold on at the same time." This is a devastating play, that brings to light issues of worldwide refugees, the destruction of war, cultures lost, individualism vs. community, and personal identity. It's incredibly current and relevant, and beautifully presented by the cast and creative team.

"The Bluest Eye" at the Guthrie Theatre

"This soil is bad for certain kinds of flowers. Certain seeds it will not nurture, certain fruit it will not bear, and when the land kills of its own volition, we acquiesce and say the victim has no right to live." This quote from Toni Morrison's 1970 debut novel The Bluest Eye, an adaptation of which is currently playing on the Guthrie thrust stage, is a brilliant metaphor for the Civil Rights movement, the Black Lives Matter movement, the Women's Rights movement, the Gay Rights movement, really any cry for equality and justice. All we want is for all kinds of flowers to have a chance to grow. What they do with that chance is up to them, but the promise of America (a promise that feels like it's slipping further away every day) is that every flower, every child, is given an equal chance to grow and flourish and become their best self. The protagonist of The Bluest Eye, a poor and "ugly" black girl named Pecola living in the 1940s, is not given that chance. This cast and creative team, most of whom are new to the Guthrie, bring Toni Morrison's story to heartbreakingly vivid life in an intense, engaging, at times humorous, and incredibly moving hour and 45 minutes of theater.