The Deal

• One ticket to see A Christmas Carol presented by Great Lakes Theater
• Where: Ohio Theatre, PlayhouseSquare
• Seating: A-level sections
• Door time: 60 minutes before showtime
• Ticket values include all fees.
• Click here to view the seating chart.<p>

Dates and Times

• $25 for Saturday, November 30, at 1:30 p.m. ($50 value)
• $30 for Friday, December 6, at 7:30 p.m. ($60 value)
• $25 for Thursday, December 12, at 7:30 p.m. ($50 value)
• $25 for Wednesday, December 18, at 7:30 p.m. ($50 value)<p>

A Christmas Carol

In Charles Dickens’ timeless Yuletide ghost story, an inveterate miser discovers there is more to the holiday season than making up words such as “humbug.” It’s Christmas Eve, and Ebenezer Scrooge thinks his sole concession to the spirit of generosity—grudgingly giving his long-suffering clerk Bob Cratchit tomorrow off with pay—will be the day’s only unpleasant event. But that’s before the shade of his deceased partner, Jacob Marley, drops by wearing a preview of the chains Scrooge himself has forged through a lifetime of greed. Three other spirits soon follow and whisk Scrooge on a journey through time, where he reflects on a love lost with the Ghost of Christmas Past, peeks in on the present-day poverty—and good cheer—of the Cratchit house with the Ghost of Christmas Present, and quakes before the horror of dying alone and unloved with the Ghost of Christmas Future. Like most high-school calculus tests, it all ends up being a dream, giving Scrooge one last chance to redeem himself and save Tiny Tim.

Since 1989, Great Lakes Theater has staged its own adaptation of Dickens’s classic morality tale with a multigenerational cast that brings more than 60 characters to life. A story within a story, this version opens with the fictitious Mrs. Cleaveland reading A Christmas Carol to her family on Christmas Eve. While attentively following along, her youngest son starts envisioning the story in his mind, but with members of his family taking on the roles of Dickens’s classic characters. Through special effects and elaborate stage setups, the play then mimics the original tale’s series of supernatural events.

Great Lakes Theater

Great Lakes Theater’s rich history dates back to 1962, when an English professor and his traveling Shakespearean theater troupe finally found a home to regularly perform classic plays. Today, the theater continues its mission to ignite a passion for the performing arts throughout the community by revisting celebrated theatrical works for as as wide of an audience as possible. In its eight-month seasons, Great Lakes’ resident theater company stages an array of productions, including Shakespearean plays and Broadway classics, in its recently renovated theater, which was originally built in 1921. Inside, wide-eyed audiences marvel at the structure’s marriage of modern and vintage elements, such as state-of-the-art lighting equipment operated by technicians who only speak in iambic pentameter.