For the sixth time in the past three decades or thereabouts, St. Mark's United Methodist Church will open its doors to welcome a memorable miser who changes his resoundingly dour outlook and parsimonious ways overnight during the Christmas season.
Located at 900 Washington St., E., in Charleston, the church will also open its doors to welcome audiences for Leslie Bricusse’s "Scrooge the Musical," a tuneful stage version of Charles Dickens' venerable 1843 novella, "A Christmas Carol," twice next week.
The first performance is scheduled for 7 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 13, with the encore on Saturday, Dec. 14, also beginning at 7 p.m. Admission is free each evening -- although you can be decidedly un-Scrooge-like for the holiday season by making monetary donations to the St. Mark's UMC Emergency Assistance Fund, used exclusively to provide aid to any Charleston-area resident, and the Religious Coalition for Community Renewal as you exit.
A tale of three Scrooges
Chris Terpening will play the titular pinchpenny visited by a trio of ghosts in the production. (It's not his first foray into portraying Ebenezer Scrooge; he also played the character -- a wicked literary figure more than 50 years before Elphaba got her broom -- in an Alban Arts Center adaptation of "A Christmas Carol" in December 2021. It's Terpening's first time on the St. Mark's stage as Scrooge, however.)
"Playing Scrooge is one of those things that's so recognizable to people -- there are certain things you're kind of obligated to do," Terpening said. "So to just keep it from being a caricature and to find the character as a human, it sort of puts you in the moment -- and through the wringer. But it's a fun little challenge and I'm enjoying it. There are probably 347,000 iterations of 'A Christmas Carol' somewhere out there this year, but this one is a nice, cute, short, little show."
During the first three incarnations of the show, a former St. Mark's UMC pastor, the late Rev. Dr. Frank L. Shaffer Jr., played the repeatedly "ghosted" skinflint.
"He looked like Scrooge. He was born to be Scrooge," said Mark Stotler, of Charleston, who has been in each production since they started "35 or 40 years ago," he speculated. "After playing Scrooge the first two times, he retired, moved to Wheeling and came back to play him a third time."
Former Charleston Deputy Mayor and longtime Charleston Dirty Birds "Toast Man" fan Rod Blackstone was Scrooge in the past two productions. "Rod's playing the Ghost of Christmas Present this year. There are some great scenes with him and Chris, playing opposite of who he used to be," Stotler said.
"Chris is going to bring a different look to it, and he's such a great singer, he'll excel at that," he added.
New roles for former cast members
Up until this year, Stotler took five stage turns as Bob Cratchit in the production. "I think they decided that a 70-year-old man was too old to play Bob Cratchit," he said in a slight Rodney Dangerfield-esque tone of voice.
He'll still be on stage, though, as Jacob Marley (and his ghost) this time around, while his wife, Martha Hill, will serve as the stage manager. "Retired minister Monty Brown agreed to be the director," Stotler said. "He'd never done it before, so he wanted to make sure he could and asked her to be the stage manager. She's unbelievably organized. She's always had parts in it before, but the stage manager is a critical role."
Brown, who pastored at St. Mark's from 2003 to 2018, said directing the musical has been a literal load off his mind -- or his body, actually.
"In three previous productions, I was the Ghost of Christmas Present, in which I wore a Sumo wrestling suit under an emerald green robe. I was a 450-pound spirit. I told them I was getting too old to sing and dance as a 450-pound spirit and would do anything else instead. 'Fine, you'll be the director,' they said, so here I am," he said.
"It's been a very interesting experience. It's a new experience for me to direct, but I'm very familiar with the play itself. For me, one of the best parts is just watching how the people in the church are getting to know each other on a different level. It's a bonding experience for the people in the church. We've met every Sunday for a couple of months now for our practices, and I'm just having a ball watching it happen. I'm hopeful the production will come off well, but it's been fun. [Music Director] Julie Janisch and Martha Hill have made this job extraordinarily easy for me," Brown said.
Janisch concurred about the camaraderie that has emerged as the show has been honed in rehearsals. "I did 'Scrooge' seven years ago. I was director of music at that time at the church; I'm retired now. Back then, I noticed how much it helped me get to know the people. In that production, about half the cast didn't go to our church seven years ago. It's been really good getting to know these people, to sort of bond with each other rather than just seeing them coming to church and sitting in pews. People are interacting with one another, like Monty said. With the children in the production, some are Cratchit family members and urchins. I've had extra rehearsals with them, and it's been really nice getting to know them better," she said.
Janisch added that the St. Mark's UMC version will have its own imprint from other familiar adaptations. "I think every song in the show people probably won't recognize. They're fun songs that go with the story," she said.
Rehearsals have been underway since early October. "It's just a really fun thing for our church to do every once in a while," Stotler said. "It's an event that brings the church together, with kids and adults involved. It's a fun play, actually a musical, and we have 40 to 50 people in it. It's mostly people from our church, although we have a couple of people from Asbury United Methodist in the cast this year, too." (Asbury congregants now meet in the St. Mark's UMC chapel, he explained.)
The holiday production has grown more elaborate over the years, Stotler noted. "The first two times, we did it in our dining room on a tiny stage. It was a challenge with this big of a cast. As we matured, we decided it was time to move it up to the sanctuary, where we've built a pretty good size stage. That's really changed the ability of what we're able to do in a much larger space.
"It's got a couple of cute songs in it, and there's a very humorous side to it," he added.
St. Mark's UMC Pastor the Rev. Cindy Briggs-Biondi will also be taking onstage bows next week. "It's my first experience with 'Scrooge' and my acting debut," she said. "My 6-year-old son, Gus Biondi, is also having his first acting experience; I believe he's our youngest cast member. We have a broad range of ages, from 6 to 80-something, so it's a great intergenerational experience for everyone."
Briggs-Biondi will portray the Ghost of Christmas Past, while Gus will double as the Turkey Boy and an urchin on stage. "It's been really fun for all of us," she said. "We have some experienced actors and a lot of people doing this for the very first time. One of the things I appreciate about us doing this as a congregation is that everybody who wanted to be part of it, no matter their skill level or ability, there was a way to participate. That's important for St. Mark's, because we try to be inclusive of all folks."
The musical's underlying message also makes the show special to her, Briggs-Biondi said. "I really love the story of Scrooge, especially now that we're living in a time when people are really struggling. It reminds us to keep our eyes open for our neighbors and practice generosity and presence, to be compassionate."
Don some 'Scrooge' apparel
You can also support St. Mark's UMC ministries this holiday season -- and beyond -- by purchasing "Scrooge the Musical" T-shirts for $23; a link to order them is posted on the church's website (listed below). The T-shirts are available in adult and youth sizes, with the show's logo and performance dates on the front and, on the back, the Scrooge quote "And I will make quite certain that the story ends on a note of hope, on a strong 'Amen'!"
For more information about St. Mark's UMC programs or services, call 304-343-2115 or visit saintmarkswv.org.
Located at 900 Washington St., E., in Charleston, the church will also open its doors to welcome audiences for Leslie Bricusse’s "Scrooge the Musical," a tuneful stage version of Charles Dickens' venerable 1843 novella, "A Christmas Carol," twice next week.
The first performance is scheduled for 7 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 13, with the encore on Saturday, Dec. 14, also beginning at 7 p.m. Admission is free each evening -- although you can be decidedly un-Scrooge-like for the holiday season by making monetary donations to the St. Mark's UMC Emergency Assistance Fund, used exclusively to provide aid to any Charleston-area resident, and the Religious Coalition for Community Renewal as you exit.
A tale of three Scrooges
Chris Terpening will play the titular pinchpenny visited by a trio of ghosts in the production. (It's not his first foray into portraying Ebenezer Scrooge; he also played the character -- a wicked literary figure more than 50 years before Elphaba got her broom -- in an Alban Arts Center adaptation of "A Christmas Carol" in December 2021. It's Terpening's first time on the St. Mark's stage as Scrooge, however.)
"Playing Scrooge is one of those things that's so recognizable to people -- there are certain things you're kind of obligated to do," Terpening said. "So to just keep it from being a caricature and to find the character as a human, it sort of puts you in the moment -- and through the wringer. But it's a fun little challenge and I'm enjoying it. There are probably 347,000 iterations of 'A Christmas Carol' somewhere out there this year, but this one is a nice, cute, short, little show."
During the first three incarnations of the show, a former St. Mark's UMC pastor, the late Rev. Dr. Frank L. Shaffer Jr., played the repeatedly "ghosted" skinflint.
"He looked like Scrooge. He was born to be Scrooge," said Mark Stotler, of Charleston, who has been in each production since they started "35 or 40 years ago," he speculated. "After playing Scrooge the first two times, he retired, moved to Wheeling and came back to play him a third time."
Former Charleston Deputy Mayor and longtime Charleston Dirty Birds "Toast Man" fan Rod Blackstone was Scrooge in the past two productions. "Rod's playing the Ghost of Christmas Present this year. There are some great scenes with him and Chris, playing opposite of who he used to be," Stotler said.
"Chris is going to bring a different look to it, and he's such a great singer, he'll excel at that," he added.
New roles for former cast members
Up until this year, Stotler took five stage turns as Bob Cratchit in the production. "I think they decided that a 70-year-old man was too old to play Bob Cratchit," he said in a slight Rodney Dangerfield-esque tone of voice.
He'll still be on stage, though, as Jacob Marley (and his ghost) this time around, while his wife, Martha Hill, will serve as the stage manager. "Retired minister Monty Brown agreed to be the director," Stotler said. "He'd never done it before, so he wanted to make sure he could and asked her to be the stage manager. She's unbelievably organized. She's always had parts in it before, but the stage manager is a critical role."
Brown, who pastored at St. Mark's from 2003 to 2018, said directing the musical has been a literal load off his mind -- or his body, actually.
"In three previous productions, I was the Ghost of Christmas Present, in which I wore a Sumo wrestling suit under an emerald green robe. I was a 450-pound spirit. I told them I was getting too old to sing and dance as a 450-pound spirit and would do anything else instead. 'Fine, you'll be the director,' they said, so here I am," he said.
"It's been a very interesting experience. It's a new experience for me to direct, but I'm very familiar with the play itself. For me, one of the best parts is just watching how the people in the church are getting to know each other on a different level. It's a bonding experience for the people in the church. We've met every Sunday for a couple of months now for our practices, and I'm just having a ball watching it happen. I'm hopeful the production will come off well, but it's been fun. [Music Director] Julie Janisch and Martha Hill have made this job extraordinarily easy for me," Brown said.
Janisch concurred about the camaraderie that has emerged as the show has been honed in rehearsals. "I did 'Scrooge' seven years ago. I was director of music at that time at the church; I'm retired now. Back then, I noticed how much it helped me get to know the people. In that production, about half the cast didn't go to our church seven years ago. It's been really good getting to know these people, to sort of bond with each other rather than just seeing them coming to church and sitting in pews. People are interacting with one another, like Monty said. With the children in the production, some are Cratchit family members and urchins. I've had extra rehearsals with them, and it's been really nice getting to know them better," she said.
Janisch added that the St. Mark's UMC version will have its own imprint from other familiar adaptations. "I think every song in the show people probably won't recognize. They're fun songs that go with the story," she said.
Rehearsals have been underway since early October. "It's just a really fun thing for our church to do every once in a while," Stotler said. "It's an event that brings the church together, with kids and adults involved. It's a fun play, actually a musical, and we have 40 to 50 people in it. It's mostly people from our church, although we have a couple of people from Asbury United Methodist in the cast this year, too." (Asbury congregants now meet in the St. Mark's UMC chapel, he explained.)
The holiday production has grown more elaborate over the years, Stotler noted. "The first two times, we did it in our dining room on a tiny stage. It was a challenge with this big of a cast. As we matured, we decided it was time to move it up to the sanctuary, where we've built a pretty good size stage. That's really changed the ability of what we're able to do in a much larger space.
"It's got a couple of cute songs in it, and there's a very humorous side to it," he added.
St. Mark's UMC Pastor the Rev. Cindy Briggs-Biondi will also be taking onstage bows next week. "It's my first experience with 'Scrooge' and my acting debut," she said. "My 6-year-old son, Gus Biondi, is also having his first acting experience; I believe he's our youngest cast member. We have a broad range of ages, from 6 to 80-something, so it's a great intergenerational experience for everyone."
Briggs-Biondi will portray the Ghost of Christmas Past, while Gus will double as the Turkey Boy and an urchin on stage. "It's been really fun for all of us," she said. "We have some experienced actors and a lot of people doing this for the very first time. One of the things I appreciate about us doing this as a congregation is that everybody who wanted to be part of it, no matter their skill level or ability, there was a way to participate. That's important for St. Mark's, because we try to be inclusive of all folks."
The musical's underlying message also makes the show special to her, Briggs-Biondi said. "I really love the story of Scrooge, especially now that we're living in a time when people are really struggling. It reminds us to keep our eyes open for our neighbors and practice generosity and presence, to be compassionate."
Don some 'Scrooge' apparel
You can also support St. Mark's UMC ministries this holiday season -- and beyond -- by purchasing "Scrooge the Musical" T-shirts for $23; a link to order them is posted on the church's website (listed below). The T-shirts are available in adult and youth sizes, with the show's logo and performance dates on the front and, on the back, the Scrooge quote "And I will make quite certain that the story ends on a note of hope, on a strong 'Amen'!"
For more information about St. Mark's UMC programs or services, call 304-343-2115 or visit saintmarkswv.org.
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