Once Upon a Blue Ridge, a professional educational theater company owned by Peter and Christina Holland of Meadows of Dan, Virginia, will present their 50-minute musical adaptation of Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” at Virginia Tech’s Reynolds Homestead in Critz, Virginia, on Thursday, Dec. 15 at 6 p.m.
Tickets are $6 for adults and $4 for children and may be purchased in advance by visiting the Reynolds Homestead website: https://reynoldshomestead.vt.edu/upcoming-events/victorian-christmas.html. Before the performance, the historic home will be open for docent-guided tours beginning at 4:30 p.m.
The performance is part of the Reynolds Homestead’s annual Victorian Christmas celebrations, which also will include a Victorian Christmas Open House from 1-4 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 11. The free event is open to the public and will offer guided tours of the beautifully decorated home, crafts, holiday music, and photos with Santa.
The Hollands have been writing, directing, and performing their original adaptations of literary classics for audiences in Virginia and the Carolinas for almost 20 years. Peter Holland was nominated in 2008 for a Virginia Governor’s Arts Award for his one man show, “Mr. Lincoln’s Office.” Christina Holland teaches theater at South Stokes High School in Stokes County, North Carolina. She has been recognized as an outstanding educator numerous times.
Their version of the classic is a bare-bones production with the emphasis on the characters and Dickens’ enduring message of goodwill to our fellow humans. It’s sure to get audiences in the true holiday spirit.
Peter Holland plays Scrooge and five other actors play all the other characters in the story, including the spirits. Beautiful masks created by Susan Service enhance the ghost scenes. Original songs by Peter Holland, played live by him and banjo player Bruce Burgess lift the show into a musical theater experience.
Garry and Eydie Clifton, longtime lovers of Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol,” will kick off the show with a conversation about their love of the holiday classic and share some of the interesting things they’ve learned over the years about the tale. Garry Clifton works at the Patrick County Library in Stuart, Virginia, and Eydie Clifton works at the Jessie Peterman Memorial Library in Floyd, Virginia.
For more information about the musical theater event, contact Kristin Hylton, communications and program support assistant at the Reynolds Homestead via email at krhylton@vt.edu. To RSVP for the event and pay at the door, please call Terri Leviner at 276-694-7181 ext. 21.
