A Christmas Carol

A Christmas Carol is a play rather than a musical: Jack Thorne's stage version of the 1843 Charles Dickens novella, conceived and directed by Matthew Warchus. The production began at the Old Vic in London. Perelman Performing Arts Center (PAC NYC) presents it Off-Broadway as a limited holiday engagement, its second holiday season there after a first run in 2025. Previews are set to begin November 20, 2026, with the official opening on December 3, 2026.

As of October 2026, Andy Karl plays Ebenezer Scrooge. Karl is a three-time Tony Award nominee, and he won the 2017 Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Musical for Groundhog Day, staged at the Old Vic.

Ebenezer Scrooge is a cold-hearted miser in London, and this version leans on traditional carols and a staging that surrounds the audience. On Christmas Eve four ghosts visit him and take him through his past, his present and a possible future. Fear and selfishness have left him lonely, and the question driving the evening is whether he can change in time.

The flashbacks fill in how he got here. Thorne gives Scrooge a harsh father, a drunkard who sank the family into debt. Fezziwig is an undertaker in this version, and he would like Scrooge to wed his daughter and inherit the firm. Belle, once engaged to Scrooge, ends the relationship after waiting in vain for the day he feels rich enough.

Thorne keeps the shape of the novella and changes some details. Tiny Tim is not written as disabled in this adaptation, and all three Christmas ghosts are played by women. The script weaves in 12 traditional Christmas carols, arranged by Christopher Nightingale.

PAC NYC describes this as the Old Vic production in an immersive staging. The London original suggests what that can mean: the proscenium stage was rebuilt in the round, with onstage seating and a walkway through the stalls, and performers welcomed the audience with mince pies and satsumas as musicians played.

At the 2025 PAC NYC run, the audience was offered gingerbread cookies and clementines, and some props passed through the audience may have a latex coating.

As of October 2026, Chris Hoch plays Father and Marley, and Tamika Lawrence plays the Ghost of Christmas Present and Mrs. Fezziwig. Two young actors, Titan Cody Love and Micah Fay Lupin, split the part of Tiny Tim.

The play premiered at the Old Vic on November 20, 2017, with Rhys Ifans as Scrooge, and the Old Vic has brought it back every holiday season since. It reached Broadway in 2019 at the Lyceum Theatre, opening on November 20 with Campbell Scott as Scrooge and Andrea Martin and LaChanze in the cast. The final Broadway performance was on January 5, 2020. PAC NYC first presented the play Off-Broadway from November 23, 2025, to January 4, 2026, with Michael Cerveris as Scrooge.