On Saturday December 3, in the Paul Mellon Arts Center, Choate Rosemary Hall hosted the classic story, “A Christmas Carol,” by Charles Dickens, to liven up Choaties and non-Choaties alike during this holiday season. A good crowd turned out, although box office  was not as substantial as last year’s version of the same spectacle .  The cost of tickets was $10 for adults and $8 for children.

Although not a student performance as it was last year, the play told the classic story of Ebenezer Scrooge and his adventures with three spirits.  The cold- hearted Scrooge, after taking a look at his life, is convinced to change his ways and becomes a better man.  The play was well staged, the costumes were striking and fitting for each character, and the overall plot of the story was retold well. 

The only down side to the play was that there were several characters whose lines were edited and did not do as well as Choaties would have hoped.  In addition, the fact that it was not student run did little to raise awareness and excitement among the Choate community.  Indeed, the majority of the audience was made up of faculty, children, and other adults. 

Jeriel Ong ‘08 stated, “I was a little disappointed that the play was not student run.  I enjoyed it a lot better last year, because there was more excitement seeing fellow students do such a good job up on stage.  However, the performance was solid, and the play did much to raise my holiday spirit.”  Overall the play and the characters brought with them a season full of fun and merriment and lifted the holiday day spirit to a higher bar for those who saw the play.