By David Morgan

A Christmas Carol is one of the most cherished traditions of the theatrical season. After many years of presenting this adaptation at the Orem Hale, bringing it to The Ruth for the first time has offered a rare and exciting opportunity to approach the story with a fresh artistic vision.

You will notice new visual textures throughout—costumes reimagined, a newly envisioned world onstage, and design choices shaped by the imagination and dedication of our entire creative team. Our scenic designer’s vision, along with the countless hours invested by our costume, props, music, and choreography teams, has breathed new life into this classic tale.

At its heart, Dickens’ story remains a powerful journey of redemption, forgiveness, and transformation. In a season that invites us to slow down, to remember what truly matters, and to draw closer to one another, A Christmas Carol offers a timeless reminder: no heart is beyond hope, no life beyond renewal. Christmas, in the truest sense, asks us to see the world with compassion—to extend grace, to reconcile, to lift those around us, and to rediscover joy in both giving and receiving.

As you experience this story tonight, may it inspire reflection, warmth, and a renewed sense of connection during this special time of year.

Merry Christmas—and “God bless us, every one.”

By Mark Fossen

Ebenezer Scrooge: From Miser to Mainstay

When we call someone "a Romeo" or "a Casanova" or "a Pollyanna," we're using an antonomasia. This is the term for when a name is used to represent a quality or an idea. It's a rare thing when a character or real-life person is so famous and so well-defined they become a kind of shorthand.

One of those characters, of course, is Ebenezer Scrooge. To call someone "a Scrooge" is to label them stingy, cold-hearted, or dismissive of joy. The term requires no explanation. Yet beneath the caricature lies a character far more complex, one who has been a cultural fascination since 1843.

"A Christmas Carol" has been told, retold, staged, animated, and modernized. From Bill Murray's Scrooged to the slasher movie The Naughty List of Mr. Scrooge to a certain money-hoarding duck, the figure of Scrooge remains at its center. But who was Scrooge originally? What was his role in society? What inspired his creation? And how did this character evolve into a near-synonym for misanthropy?

What did Scrooge actually do?

Dickens refers to Scrooge not as a merchant or shopkeeper, but as “a man of business.” While he is sometimes described as a moneylender, his work more closely resembles that of a private financier or speculative investor. His business is called a “counting house,” which usually meant a part of a larger business — what we might call an accounting department. However, the firm is named “Scrooge and Marley” and appears to have only one employee, so it appears it was something different.

Scrooge’s wealth likely came from lending money at interest, investing in ventures, managing property and collecting debts. In today’s terms, we might call him a private financier or an asset manager — someone who makes money by having money. One fascinating scholarly take from the Library of Congress describes Scrooge as a man whose wealth was “paper-based,” detached from goods or labor.

This distinction places Scrooge among a particular class of Victorians: those who dealt not in goods or labor but in money itself. His wealth is tied not to production or trade but to ownership and accounting. The clerks in his office are not assistants in a commercial enterprise; they are record-keepers, maintaining the ledgers that track his profits.

Was Scrooge based on a real person?

People have hunted for “the real-life Scrooge” almost since his creation. John Elwes, an 18th-century Member of Parliament, is frequently mentioned. Known for his extreme thrift, Elwes reportedly dressed in rags and allowed his properties to deteriorate to avoid maintenance costs, despite his great wealth. Another possibility is Jemmy Wood, nicknamed the “Gloucester Miser,” a wealthy banker whose name was entangled in disputes over a large inheritance after his death in 1836, just a few years before Dickens wrote A Christmas Carol.

There are also autobiographical threads. Dickens’s own father was sent to debtor’s prison, and the young Charles was removed from school and sent to work in a factory. These early experiences with financial hardship and social shame left a lasting impression. The fear of poverty, the desire for stability, and the anxiety of social disconnection that drive Young Scrooge are not far from anxieties Dickens himself might have felt.

Even the name “Scrooge” may carry symbolic weight. Some linguists trace it to the now-archaic verb “to scrouge, ” meaning “to squeeze” or “to press.” One alternate spelling recorded by the Oxford English Dictionary is, in fact, “scrooge”. (The two are so close that if you Google “to scrouge” it will ask if you meant to search for “to Scrooge” instead.)

Was Scrooge neurodivergent?

Some recent interpretations have suggested that Scrooge’s behavior might reflect traits associated with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). He has rigid routines, struggles with emotional expression, prefers solitude, and resists change. These traits, read through a modern lens, could point to a neurodivergent profile.

A 2019 article from the University of Notre Dame explores this idea, asking whether Scrooge’s discomfort with sensory and emotional overload — his hatred of noise, crowds, and surprises — might make him a character who experiences the world differently.

Dickens, of course, wasn’t writing with modern clinical language, but that hasn’t stopped readers from revisiting Scrooge with new empathy. His transformation, then, isn’t about “fixing” him — it’s about connection, support, and purpose. It’s about creating a world where someone like Scrooge doesn’t have to isolate himself to survive.

Why Scrooge?

Ultimately, the enduring appeal of Scrooge lies not in the faults embodied in his name, but in his capacity to transform. There are many fictional misers, but none have become synonymous with the idea itself. It is his transformation that took him from character to icon.

Just as Scrooge changes, so does A Christmas Carol. After 35 consecutive annual productions at the Hale Centre Theatre Orem, it now premieres in its new home, The Ruth. As one legacy closes, another begins. The story remains the same, but the space around it — and the people within it — continue to change.

1947

Glendale Centre Theatre, founded by Ruth and Nathan Hale, opens to an audience of only six people but begins the Hale theater tradition that continues today.

1965

The first production of A Christmas Carol at Glendale Centre Theatre, featuring an adaptation by Ted Lehman. After seeing Lehmann perform the role of Scrooge at the Pasadena Playhouse, Ruth Hale insists he adapt the story for their theater and pesters him each week until the script is finished.

Johnstone “Whitey” White, a Hollywood actor known for films like Tough to Handle, Desperate Cargo, and Home Before Dark, records the narration which is still in use today.

His distinctive rasp comes from his exposure to mustard gas in the trenches of WWI.

1990

Ruth and Nathan Hale retire from their Glendale theater and move to Utah, but that retirement doesn’t last long as they establish Utah theaters. The Hale Theatre Orem opens in May at 400 North Orem Boulevard with a production of Burr Under My Saddle.

Later that year and “done in the tradition fast becoming a given for the Orem facility” according to The Daily Herald, the Hale Orem produces A Christmas Carol. Nathan Hale plays Scrooge and Ruth Hale appears as the laundress.

That first year, the theater only could afford six top hats. With up to 25 people needing to wear them at various points, a top hat flowchart was created. Each actor would check the flowchart, grab the right hat, wear it, and hand it off to the next guy at the end of each scene. “The audience had no idea, I hope, that they were seeing the same six hats recycled throughout the show,” said founder and Artistic Director Anne Swenson.

1991

By its second year, The Daily Herald already calls it “an annual favorite”, and due to demand it starts running six nights a week. Leading a company of over 70 people, Nathan Hale returns as Scrooge.

“[…] you will be amazed at the quality of work that has gone into this particular production. As for myself, I have seen this particular play countless times on both stage and television; yet, this has to be the best rendition that I have ever seen.”

- Orem-Geneva Times, December 11, 1991

1993

Nathan Hale begins rehearsals as Scrooge in late 1993 as he fights against bone cancer. He withdraws from the production after the first rehearsals, with his role being filled by William Bisson and Chris H. Brower. “That’s when we decided to use others for the role of Scrooge. It was kind of a heartbreak,” said founder and Managing Director Cody Hale in a 1994 interview with The Daily Herald. He passes away on January 30, 1994 at the age of 83.

1994

“Christmas isn’t Christmas if we’re not producing Carol somewhere. It brings the Christmas spirit to everybody.” Ruth Hale says in The Daily Herald.

1998

“It's a tradition. Many people make it part of their annual celebration to see this show at this theater." 

- The Daily Harold, December 1, 1998

2002

Marking the theater’s 100th production since opening in 1990, the show sees some revisions with Syd Riggs directing and the cast being condensed and the story streamlined. In addition, founder and Managing Director Cody Hale composes three original songs to add to the show alongside its traditional carols.

“You can only do so much before you need to bring in a new, fresh look. If we as producers had done it ourselves, we wouldn’t have been able to bring that kind of life to it, because we’re too used to it,” said founder and Artistic Director Anne Swenson in an interview with The Daily Herald.

2005

Director Jerry Elison directs beginning with this year's production, and will continue to direct the show every year through 2019, overseeing 15 productions in all.

2014

"[...] this adaptation of A Christmas Carol with music and lyrics by Cody Hale is simply the best production in the state." 

- Utah Theatre Bloggers, December 25, 2014

2016

“Thousands of people in Utah Valley come to Hale Center Theater Orem every year to witness the fruits of the labor put in by these 70-plus people and many have been coming every year for over the last decade. This show captures the spirit of Christmas and allows the audience to feel that spirit every year because of the work of so many.”

- The Deseret News, November 26, 2016

2019

Director Jerry Elison’s last production of A Christmas Carol. Unable to finish rehearsals or see the finished show, he passed away two days before closing night on December 21, 2019.

He is memorialized in the 2020 playbill as “the beloved director of A Christmas Carol, whose heart, humor, and artistry exemplified the spirit of the season for tens of thousands over the two decades that he brought this timeless story to life on our stage.”

2020

As the COVID-19 pandemic closes many theaters, a new adaptation by Bradley Moss with Ted Lehman and Richard Wilkins debuts, directed by Shawnda Moss. This version features a much smaller cast of 16 performers, with some playing three or more roles, in order to accommodate actor safety backstage.

“Holiday traditions provide families with an anchor of stability year after year, and never have people needed stability more than during the coronavirus pandemic. The creative team and performers at Hale Center Theater Orem are filling that need with their annual production of the Charles Dickens classic A Christmas Carol. To adjust to this year’s circumstances, the show has been slimmed down and streamlined, but this modified version is an improvement that exudes the Christmas spirit. Generally, this year’s A Christmas Carol has retained the best aspects  of the Orem Hale’s traditions […] and introduced improvements. The end result is a production that is spirited and effective at bringing joy to the world at the end of a difficult year.”

- Utah Theatre Bloggers, December 1, 2020

2023

This production marks both the theater’s 250th production overall and the 160th anniversary of Dickens’ original tale. The production features a new adaptation by Rodger Sorensen in a “Chamber Theatre” style, where much of Dickens’ original language is maintained and actors deliver narration taken from the novel.

2024

The 35th annual production celebrates Hale Theatre Company Orem’s 257th production since its opening in 1990, and the final show in the theater’s historic space at 400 North Orem Boulevard.

Over the course of those 35 years, there have been 13 Scrooges:

• Chris Brower played Scrooge 24 times over a period of 28 years, and is still beloved by audiences for whom he is synonymous with the role.

• William Bisson played the role 4 times over 8 years, joining the show the same year as Brower in order to step into the shoes of Nathan Hale who had played the role 3 times in the theater’s first 3 years.

• Other actors to appear as Scrooge: Ric Starnes (3 times); Merrill Dodge, Art Allen, and Mark Fossen (2 times each); and Bryce Chamberlain, Mark Pulham, Reese Purser, David Morgan, Bradley Moss, and Dan Hess (1 time each).

2025

A Christmas Carol will open on December 1, 2025 at The Ruth and Nathan Hale Theater on The Lindsay Legacy stage.

"Dickens dead? Then will Father Christmas die too?"
- A young girl upon hearing of Charles Dickens' death on June 9, 1870

In a 1903 essay, writer F. G. Kitton called Charles Dickens "the man who invented Christmas." That title gained renewed prominence with the success of the 2017 movie of the same name starring Dan Stevens of Downton Abbey fame. But did he?

Of course, Christmas was a long-standing holiday, established as the feast of the birth of Jesus by Pope Julius I to take place on December 25. Pope Gregory brought it to England in 601 by instructing St. Austin of Canterbury “not to stop such ancient Pagan festivities” such as Saturnalia and Yule but to “adapt them to the rites of the Church, only changing the reason of them from a heathen to a Christian impulse.”

For many centuries afterward, Christmas celebrations grew in England. Eventually, the English celebration of Christmas became a twelve-day festival from Christmas Eve to the Feast of the Epiphany on January 6. Such was the excess of the time that King Henry III threw a Christmas feast, which included the slaughter of 600 oxen for one single meal.

However, when the Puritan movement came to power in England during the English Civil Wars, Christmas changed completely. Oliver Cromwell attacked it as a pagan feast and said it was “a pretense for Drunkenness, and Rioting, and Wantonness.” A 1644 law made Christmas a day of fasting and repentance, followed by acts of Parliament in 1647 and 1652, which banned the celebration of the holiday altogether.

These bans were repealed with the restoration of the Monarchy in 1660, but the spirit of Christmas had been dampened. The advent of the Industrial Revolution further diminished the holiday spirit as a great many workers spent the holiday at the factory with no recognition of the holiday.

All that began to change in the 1840s, and the landmark event of that change was the December 19, 1843 publication of A Christmas Carol. While Charles Dickens didn’t invent Christmas, he played a pivotal role in its revival and in shaping enduring Christmas traditions and images that are with us to this day, such as charity toward the poor and a focus on family celebrations. It’s hard to overestimate the popularity and celebrity of Charles Dickens at this time or the impact this book had on everyone who read it, heard Dickens read it, or saw one of the many pirated stage productions that sprung up quickly after.

For example, Dickens’ Christmas story takes place on snow-covered streets, and that vision of a white Christmas is still with us 180 years later. However, England seldom sees snow at Christmas, and London sees it even less. An accident of climate brought us this snowy setting, as the first 8 Christmases of Dickens’ life were snowy due to unusual weather patterns near the end of what is called “The Little Ice Age.” These Christmases before his father was put in debtor’s prison and young Dickens needed to support his family by working in a factory that made shoe blacking created core memories of an innocent and hopeful Christmastime that Dickens would return to again and again in his later years.

The effects of the Puritan condemnations of Christmas were still felt years later, as the phrase “Merry Christmas” had fallen out of use in favor of the more sober and restrained “Happy Christmas.” The former phrase evoked images of merriment, including food, drink, games, and laughter, and it was exactly this behavior which caused the Puritan backlash to the holiday. Dickens, however, uses the phrase no less than 21 times in A Christmas Carol, and the immense popularity of the book put the phrase on people’s lips again, particularly in America.

Those condemnations also had affected Christmas carols themselves, as folk traditions were curtailed and the carols began to slip from memory. While there was increasing interest in reclaiming this historic festive music in the early 1800s, caroling was far from a common practice when Dickens introduced a caroler singing “God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen” into his  story. By suggesting they were a standard part of Christmas that only a miser like Scrooge could take objection to, Dickens helped revive caroling.

Even the Christmas table was affected by Dickens’ Carol! When a reformed Scrooge upgrades the Cratchit family meal from a goose to “a prize turkey”. This was probably inspired by Dickens’ gratitude to the printers of his books who sent him a turkey each Christmas. The goose was the traditional centerpiece of Christmas dinner in England, but the turkey’s presence in A Christmas Carol (the bird is mentioned 9 times), changed the tastes of the country and almost bankrupted the goose industry in England. In one famous incident, a factory owner heard Dickens read A Christmas Carol aloud and immediately rushed out afterwards and immediately bought turkeys for all his employees.

The writer G.K. Chesterton suggested in his introduction to A Christmas Carol that “He saved Christmas not because it was historic, but because it was human” and that without Dickens’ “Ghostly little book,” a traditional Christmas would “have become merely details of the neglected past, a part of history or archaeology … perhaps the very word carol would sound like the word villanelle.”

This telling of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol is full of carols as it is of Dickens' classic tale of Christmas redemption. While you may know the origin of modern Christmas music like "White Christmas" or "All I Want for Christmas", do you know the stories behind the classic carols you'll hear tonight?

Listen to recordings of these carols and hymns on Spotify!

Spotify Playlist - Christmas Carols

God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen

Did you know that in this well-known carol, not only are the gentlemen not merry, but they aren’t even resting? The phrase “God rest you merry” dates to 1534 and means something like “God grant you peace and happiness” with “rest” meaning “to keep, to continue, to remain”. The earliest version of this carol we can find is a manuscript dating to around 1650 and currently held in the  Bodelian Libraries at Oxford University with a different first line: “Sit you merry gentlemen”. In Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, he also records a different first line: “God bless you merry gentlemen”

The Wexford Carol

This carol takes its name from County Wexford on the eastern coast of Ireland, and while legend says it originated from the Middle Ages it more likely dates to the 15th or 16th Century due to the rhyme schemes involved. We know the song from Dr. William Grattan Flood, the musical director at St. Aidan’s Cathedral in Enniscorthy in the early 20th Century who transcribed the music and lyrics from a local singer.

Ding Dong Merrily on High

The tune to this carol first appeared in a 1589 collection of dance tunes called Orchésographie, by the French composer Jehan Tabourot. There was no connection to Christmas until an English composer named George Ratcliffe Woodward wrote the lyrics we know and published them in his 1924 The Cambridge Carol-Book: Being Fifty-two Songs for Christmas, Easter, And Other Seasons. Its Latin chorus of “Gloria, Hosanna in excelsis!” translates roughly to “Glory! Praise God in the highest!”

Good Christian Men Rejoice

While the English translation of this beloved carol dates to 1853, the carol itself is far older, originating in the 4th Century. It was originally written in both Latin and German, which indicates it was a folk carol for the people as only Latin would have been sung in Mass itself. In addition, the rhythms were notwhat one would hear in Mass, coming from a folk-dance tradition instead of traditional plainsong.

Hark the Herald Angels Sing

When Charles Wesley wrote “Hark! how all the welkin rings, Glory to the King of Kings” in his 1739 “Hymn for Christmas-Day” his words unwittingly began a journey of over 100 years that would bring us the carol we know now. Fourteen years later, his student George Whitefield would alter the first line to the now-familiar “Hark! the herald angels sing—Glory to the newborn King!” but the slow and somber tune Wesley had requested was nowhere near the carol we know today. One hundred years after Whitfield’s change, it was British composer William Hayman Cummings who made some adjustments Felix Mendelssohn’s “Vaterland, in deinen Gauen” to bring us the melody we know today.

Twelve Days of Christmas

While the lyrics were first published in a 1780 children’s book, they appear to have their origins in an earlier children’s game. The children would need to recite all the previous lyrics and then add a new one — if you forgot you would lose and need to give your opponent a piece of candy or other small token. Both the game and printed poem did not have any music attached, and the tune we sing today was first performed by British singer and composer Frederic Austin in 1905. He based his performance on a tune that had been in his family long before that, with his only invention being the “five golden rings” section.

Bring a Torch, Jeanette, Isabella

This carol originates in the Provence region of France, and dates to as early as the 15th Century. In legend, Jeanette and Isabella are two milkmaids who come to the stable to milk the cows, discover the baby Jesus, and rush back to their village carrying torches to announce the good news. To this day, many children in Provence will dress up as milkmaids and carry torches while singing this carol on their way to Midnight Mass.

What Child is This?

Sung to the tune of “Greensleeves”, which likely dates to the reign of Queen Elizabeth I and was first published in 1580, the lyrics to this carol were composed in 1865 by William Chatterton Dix. Dix had been stricken with a serious illness and spent several months confined to his bed, weakened and depressed. This led to his spiritual awakening which  produced a great number of hymns and poems, including this carol based on his poem “The Manger Throne”.

Sussex Carol

If the “Sussex Carol” is a Christmas favorite of yours, you can thank Harriet Verrall of Monk’s Gate, near Horsham, Sussex in England. Despairing that traditional folk songs from around England were disappearing, composer Ralph Vaughan Williams traveled the countryside to document them and transcribed this carol as it was sung in 1909 by Mrs. Verrall.

Joy to the World

Inspired by Psalm 98, English minister Isaac Watts composed and published this hymn in 1719. The tune we sing with these lyrics has a much cloudier origin: it first appears in an 1848 composition by Lowell Mason and is often attributed to George Handel because Mason note that the first chords of the song come from Handel’s Messiah. However, it is actually a version of the tune “Antioch” of unknown origin but dating to the 1830s. Regardless of origin, it is the most-published Christmas hymn in North America, appearing in 1387 different hymnals through 1979 when the numbers were tabulated.

Christmas is Coming

While the origins of this traditional nursery rhyme and its accompanying tune are lost to history, we can track its modern popularity to 1960. It’s in that year a field recording of the song sung by Jack Elliot of Birtley, Durham is entered in the British Library Sound Archive, and The Kingston Trio include it on their Christmas album The Last Month of the Year under the name “A Round About Christmas”.

O Come All Ye Faithful

Musicologists and scholars debate the origins of this hymn and can only assert that it was written in Latin somewhere between the 13th and 18th centuries by any number of possible composers, including King John IV of Portugal. Because it was first introduced to English audiences in performance at the Portuguese Embassy in London in 1795 it was initially known as “The Portuguese Hymn”. Its English translation first appears in print in 1852, combining translations by Frederick Oakeley and William Thomas Brooke.