MOUNT VERNON — Seems like every new production slated for McIntyre Hall is bigger and better than the one before.
Theater Arts Guild’s upcoming production of the classic Charles Dickens holiday story “A Christmas Carol” is no exception.
Audiences will be treated to top-notch acting and colorful, luscious costumes. The musical production will include one of the biggest sets in McIntyre Hall to date, a towering work of art with a $20,000 price tag in a show that’s expected to cost about $100,000.
Standing in the large metal building at the Skagit County Fairgrounds where the theater group is having its set built, Bruce Vilders, TAG Board member and show co-producer, said the cost and time will be worth every penny.
“This is the fifth season we’ve done this show, and every time we want to offer audiences something new,” Vilders said, strolling toward a small-scale model that will be duplicated in large sheets of plywood and paint, cloth and tinsel for the full-scale set.
Not that the set is everything, Vilders said of the show that’s slated to run Nov. 14-30.
“A Christmas Carol” is one of the best-received stories of all time, a crowd-pleaser that’s sure to fill theater seats during the holidays.
So much of the story has become familiar around the world as a moral tale about man’s responsibility to those in need and, ultimately, to the betterment of humanity as a whole.
Even the characters’ names and their lines have become part of everyday American language — “Don’t be such a Scrooge!” and “Bah, humbug!”
So what is it that people love so much about “A Christmas Carol?”
The story is timeless and yet, so timely, thanks to the recent worldwide financial meltdown, slumping economy, rising unemployment rate and increasing struggles of people on the lowest rungs of the social ladder, said Brian Young, director of the production.
That familiarity can work against you as a show producer, though.
TAG Board members wanted something bigger and more spectacular for audiences than in other productions of “A Christmas Carol.”
In fact, everything about the production is bigger and more elaborate than other shows at the McIntyre, Vilders said.
“This really raises the bar for McIntyre Hall, and for TAG,” Vilders said.
TAG is adding to McIntyre’s sound system, creating its own master curtain for the stage, adding lighting and even enlarging the stage.
And, of course, there’s that gargantuan two-story set, Vilders said. Some of the pieces are 22-by-50 feet.
Board members decided in June to hire a professional set designer, Mary Alice Hare, who recently moved to Bellingham. Hare came up with a detailed, small-scale model for the set.
Then the board hired regionally known artists Norman Roque of Sedro-Woolley and Karen Bakke of Mount Vernon. The artists have spent the past three months working on the set, trying to make it look as realistic as possible. There’s the tall, dark, gray and black cityscape of London; the dull, peeling wallpapered expanse of Ebenezer Scrooge’s bedroom.
Ultimately, TAG hopes to recoupe some of the cost of building the set by renting it to other theater companies, Vilders said.
The color scheme of the show depends on the colors of the set, Vilders explained. The makeup, the costumes — it’s all going to blend together for a visually consistent and atmospheric show, he said.
And, of course, the audience can depend on top-notch acting to match the caliber of the set and costumes, director Young said. He’s playing the miser Ebenezer Scrooge, a part he relishes.
When it all comes together, Vilders said he expects audiences to enjoy an uplifting experience.
“Seeing all the pieces come together is thrilling,” he said.
Beverly Crichfield can be reached at 360-416-2135 or .
