SCROOGE IN ROUGE: An English Music Hall Christmas Carol

OPEN EYE MAINSTAGE

Created by Ricky Graham, Jeffery Roberson and Yvette Hargis
Original music by Jefferson Turner
November 30 – December 30, 2023

Some versions of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol are like hot toddies: traditional, sweet, and heartwarming. Open Eye Theatre’s musical holiday offering, SCROOGE IN ROUGE, is like a boilermaker: a raucous holiday celebration spiked with campy drag, “Naughty List”-worthy lyrics, and deliciously over-the-top performances calibrated to instantly kick the audience into higher spirits!

The Royal Music Hall Twenty-Member Variety Players production of A Christmas Carol is in a pickle after seventeen members of the company suddenly fall ill. This leaves the three remaining members to plow on (so to speak) through a musical performance of the Dickens classic. Expect missed cues, unfamiliar characters, and costume mishaps aplenty. With cheeky puns and bawdy songs, this quick-change version of the Christmas tale is a hilarious holiday treat!

  • TICKETS

    $30 — General Admission
    $24 — Seniors
    $18 — Students
    $15 — Economic Accessibility

    A limited number of $15 Economic Accessibility tickets are available online for all performances. If not sold out, a limited number of pay as able tickets will be available at the door. View our ticketing policy.

    AGE RECOMMENDATION: Ages 14 and up.

    CONTENT AWARENESS: SCROOGE IN ROUGE is a bawdy musical riff on Charles Dickens’ classic A CHRISTMAS CAROL. It features playful humor and some double entendres with sexual innuendo, in the spirit of British humorists Monty Python and Benny Hill.

  • PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE

    Thursday, Nov. 30, 7:30pm OPENING
    Fri., Dec. 1, 7:30pm
    Sat., Dec. 2, 7:30pm
    Sun., Dec. 3, 2pm*
    Thurs., Dec. 7, 7:30pm
    Fri., Dec. 8, 7:30pm
    Sat., Dec. 9, 7:30pm
    Sun., Dec. 10, 2pm*
    Thurs., Dec. 14, 7:30pm SOLD OUT
    Fri., Dec. 15, 7:30pm
    Sat., Dec. 16, 7:30pm
    Sun., Dec. 17, 2pm*
    Thurs., Dec. 21, 7:30pm SOLD OUT
    Fri., Dec. 22, 7:30pm SOLD OUT
    Sat., Dec. 23, 2:00pm SOLD OUT
    Sat., Dec. 23, 7:30pm SOLD OUT
    Thurs., Dec. 28 7:30pm SOLD OUT
    Fri., Dec. 29, 7:30pm SOLD OUT
    Sat., Dec. 30, 7:30pm CLOSING

    All Sunday matinee performances are masking-required. All other shows are masking-optional.

    RUN TIME: 2 hours with a 15 minute intermission

  • ACCESSIBILITY

    Contact us at 612-874-6338 or boxoffice@openeyetheatre.org for accessibility information and requests. Learn more.

    COVID PRECAUTIONS: All audience members will be required to wear masks during our Sunday performances. All other shows are masking-optional. The masking policy will be posted on the door.

    View our COVID-19 Policy

Listen to sample recordings from the show!

CREATIVE TEAM

Director – Joel Sass
Choreographer – Heidi Spesard-Noble
Musical Director – Jake Endres
Scenic Designer – Michael Sommers
Costume Designer – Kathy Kohl
Lighting Designer – Bill Healey
Stage Manager – Brian Hirt
Assistant Stage Manager – Evelyn Kelly
Creative Technical Director – Brandon Sisneroz
Dialect Coach – Patrick Bailey

Cast

  • Abilene Olson (she/her)

    Lottie Obbligato

    Abilene’s powerhouse vocals come to SCROOGE IN ROUGE! Some of her favorite credits include Ghost Quartet with Theatre Elision, and Open Eye’s original musicals HAIR BALL and LOCH MESS by Josef Evans. We’re thrilled to be working with her again! Catch her in February/March for In the Green at the Elision Playhouse!

  • Maren Ward (she/her)

    Vesta Virile

    Maren gleefully returns to holidays at Open Eye having spent many years as Father Winter in THE HOLIDAY PAGEANT. In addition to her other many roles at Open Eye (HAIR BALL, LOG JAM, CONSTANCE IN THE DARKNESS, TO THE MOON), Maren is artistic director of zAmya Theater Project.

  • Neal Skoy (he/him)

    Charlie Schmaltz

    Neal is overjoyed to be back on the Open Eye stage once again, previously having appeared in THE BELDENVILLE TROLL and LAND OF CLOWNS. Other notable stages played include: Jungle, Park Square, Old Log, Yellow Tree, Artistry, Lyric Arts, and Huge Improv. Neal is also an accomplished circus clown and comedy instructor.

  • Patrick Adkins (he/him)

    Alfred Da Cappo

    Patrick is a Twin Cities-based pianist and composer who specializes in jazz and improvised music, and is well-versed in a variety of musical styles and settings, with a strong classically-trained background that serves as the foundation for his versatility and adaptability. We’re delighted to have him as our accompanist!

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Photos by Bruce Silcox.

Photos by Bruce Silcox.

What is English Music Hall?

Originating in saloon bars within pubs during the 1830s, music hall was a type of British theatrical entertainment that enjoyed great popularity from the early Victorian era, beginning around 1850, through the Great War. Music hall (like North American vaudeville) involved a mixture of rousing songs, sketch comedy, speciality acts, and variety entertainment. 

SCROOGE IN ROUGE: An English Musical Hall Christmas Carol celebrates the holiday season with an homage to this traditional style of silly entertainment, brimming with witty lyrics, bad puns, and naughty double-entendres, all calculated to induce merriment and good cheer. Come raise a glass with us and experience some British hilarity!

"Likely to be the funniest, campiest, most delightful, most all-around entertaining Christmas show you’ll be seeing this holiday season."
— StageSceneLA

 

Visit Open Eye Theatre

506 E. 24th Street
Minneapolis, MN

Free parking is available in the lot on the southeast corner of 24th Street and Portland Avenue, courtesy of Lutheran Social Services.