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CHRISTMAS CAROL - 2024 - VERA MAE’S

(Lights up and we all go to our seats. When all are seated stop house
music)

HOST: Good evening, ladies and gentlemen! My name is Greg Ashley and
I am portraying Scrooge in tonight’s radio drama of A Christmas Carol!!
Just a few words before we start the show tonight concerning these
restrooms here beside our stage. It would be great if you folks could use
the facilities on the other side of the restaurant so you don’t have to come
up through the set and over the cords to get to the restroom. And secondly,
we have a few sound effects set up here to my right, as well as the
applause light! All we ask of you is that you applaud wildly whenever you
see this light flash! Here we go! Let’s practice!

APPLAUSE LIGHT

HOST: Great job, folks! And now, we are proud to present The Harmony
Players’ Radio Show version of A CHRISTMAS CAROL by Charles
Dickens!

APPLAUSE LIGHT

(MUSIC)

NARRATOR: Marley was dead to begin with. There is no doubt whatever

about that. The register of his burial was signed by the clergyman, the
clerk, the undertaker, and the chief mourner. Scrooge signed it, and
Scrooge’s name was good upon ‘change, for anything he chose to put his
hand to. Old Marley was dead as a door-nail. Scrooge knew he was dead?
Of course he did. Scrooge and Marley were partners for many years. And
once upon a time - of all the good days in the year, on Christmas Eve, old
Scrooge sat busy in his counting-house, a grim, cheerless place if ever
there was one. The door of Scrooge’s office was open that he might keep
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his eye upon his clerk, Bob Cratchit, who in a cold and dismal little cell
beyond, worked at his ledgers.

SCROOGE: Hey, you there! Bob Cratchit! Come here! What are you doing
there?!

SOUND: (Footsteps)

BOB: I’m only putting a bit more coal in the fire, Mr. Scrooge, seeing it’s so
cold in there, sir.

SCROOGE: You put that coal back into the scuttle! A fire! A fire, indeed. I
can tell you, if you use coal at that rate, you and I will soon be parting
company, Bob Cratchit. You understand that? There’s many a young fella’d
like your situation, you know.

SOUND: (Knock at the door)

SCROOGE: There’s someone at the door. Go on, see who it is.

BOB: Yes, sir.

SOUND: (Open and close sound effects door)

GENTLEMAN #1: Good morning. Is this the firm of Scrooge and Marley?

BOB: Good morning, sir. Yes, sir.

GENTLEMAN #2: We should like to see the head of the firm, if we may.

BOB: Very good, sir. (To Scrooge) Some gentleman to see you, Mr.
Scrooge.
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GENTLEMAN #1: Mr. Scrooge, sir, some of us are endeavoring to collect

some money to help feed the poor during this season of the year. It’s at this
time that want is most keenly felt.

SCROOGE: Are there no prisons? Are there no work houses?

GENTLEMAN #1: I’m sorry to say there are, sir.

SCROOGE: Ah, well then, let the poor live there! I support those
institutions in their worthy cause.

GENTLEMAN #2: But sir! Some would rather die!

SCROOGE: Well, if they’d rather die, they’d better do it and decrease the
surplus population! BAH! HUMBUG! Cratchit! Show these gentlemen out.

BOB: Yes, sir.

LUCAS: (Door opens and closes as gentlemen leave, and again as Fred
enters.)

FRED: Uncle Scrooge! A Merry Christmas to you! And a very Merry

Christmas to you, Bob Cratchit!

BOB: Thank you, sir, and to you as well, sir.

SCROOGE: HUMBUG!

FRED: Christmas a humbug, Uncle? Surely you don’t mean that!

SCROOGE: I do! Merry Christmas? What is Christmas but a time for

buying things for which you’ve no need, nor money? A time for finding
yourself a year older and not an hour richer! What reason do you have to
be merry? You’re poor enough!
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FRED: Come then, Uncle - what reason do you have to be dismal? You’re
rich enough!

SCROOGE: Bah!

FRED: Now, uncle, don’t be cross.

SCROOGE: (scoffs) A Merry Christmas. If I could work my will, every fool

who went around with a “Merry Christmas” on his lips would be boiled in his
own pudding and buried with a stake of holly through his heart!

FRED: Uncle!

SCROOGE: You keep Christmas in your own way, and let me keep it in
mine!

FRED: But you don’t keep it!

SCROOGE: Then let me leave it alone! What good has it ever done you?

FRED: There are many things from which I have derived good, and for
which I have not profited, I dare say. Christmas among the rest. But I have
always thought of Christmas as a time for giving - a peaceful, charitable
time. Therefore, Uncle, although it has never put a scrap of gold or silver in
MY pocket, I believe that it has done me good, and will do me good, and I
say God Bless it!

BOB: (Clapping wildly and cheering)

SCROOGE: Let me hear another sound from you, Bob Cratchit, and you’ll
keep your Christmas by losing your employment. And you, nephew - you’re
quite a powerful speaker, sir. I wonder why you don’t go into Parliament!

FRED: Don’t be angry, Uncle - come and dine with us tomorrow!

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SCROOGE: HUMBUG!

FRED: We’ve never had a quarrel to which I’ve been a party. I will keep my
Christmas spirit to the last, Uncle. And a Merry Christmas to you, Bob!

BOB: Yes, sir, same to you, sir!

SOUND: (Open and close sound effects door)

SCROOGE: Cratchit!

BOB: Yes, sir? Yes, sir?

SCROOGE: It’s too late to conduct business, with all the fools closing up
for Christmas. We may as well close up the place now.

BOB: Yes, sir. It IS getting a little dark. Hard to see the figures.

SCROOGE: I suppose you’ll be wanting the whole day tomorrow, Cratchit?

BOB: Yes, sir, if it’s quite convenient, sir.

SCROOGE: But it’s not convenient! It’s never convenient! Yet year after
year you expect it don’t you?

BOB: It’s really for the children, sir…

SCROOGE: Be back all the earlier the next morning!

BOB: Yes, sir! And a Merry Christmas, sir!

SCROOGE: HUMBUG!!

SOUND: (Open and close sound effects door)

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MUSIC

NARRATOR: With Scrooge gone, Bob closed the office in a twinkling, the
long ends of his white comforter dangling below his waist (for he boasted
no great-coat). He then ran home to Camden Town as hard as he could
pelt, to play with his family at blindman's-buff.

Scrooge, on the other hand, retired to his dark and dismal house.

Darkness was cheap. And Scrooge liked it. Scrooge walked through his
rooms to see that all was right. Sitting-room. Bedroom. Lumber-room. All as
they should be. Nobody under the table, nobody under the sofa, nobody
under the bed, nobody in the closet. With the house searched, Scrooge
double-locked himself in his room, donned his dressing-gown and slippers,
and sat in his chair to take his gruel, staring into the fire.

SOUND: (clock strikes)

(MUSIC)

SCROOGE: (YAWNS MIGHTILY, COUGHS, THEN AMAZED) Marley.

Marley? Marley! I could have sworn I saw old– Ah! Humbug. Marley’s been
dead these seven years. Humbug. All humbug. What I need is a good
night’s–

SOUND: (CLANKING NOISE, DEEP DOWN BELOW)

SCROOGE: What? What’s that?

SOUND: (MORE NOISE, LIKE DRAGGING CHAINS, INCREASINGLY

LOUDER AND CLOSER)

JACOB: (Holding chains and clanging them) Scroooooooooge...

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SCROOGE: Someone’s in the wine cellar. But the door’s locked and
double- locked! Something’s – is coming! Some – something is – is coming
closer. Outside my door. Bah! I won’t believe it. It’s humbug still!

JACOB: (Holding chains and clanging them) Scroooooooooge!

SOUND: (spoon dropping into bowl)

SOUND: (Door slowly creaks open.)

JACOB: Scrooooooooooooge!!

SCROOGE: (GASPS) Marley! How - what….what do you want with me?

JACOB: Much…

SCROOGE: Who – who are you?

JACOB: Ask me who I was.

SCROOGE: Who were you then?

JACOB: In life, I was your partner, Jacob Marley.

SCROOGE: Can you sit down?

JACOB: I can.

SCROOGE: Well, do it then.

JACOB: (Rattle chains) You don’t believe in me.

SCROOGE: I don’t.

JACOB: Why do you doubt your senses?

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SCROOGE: Because a little thing affects them. A slight disorder of the

stomach makes them cheat. You may be a bit of undigested beef, a blot of
mustard, a fragment of an underdone potato. Yes, there is more gravy than
of grave about you, whatever you are!

JACOB: (Rattle chains) OHHHHHH!!!! Man of the worldly mind, do you

believe in me or not?

SCROOGE: I do! I must! But why do spirits walk the earth, and why do they
come to me?

JACOB: It is required of the spirit of man that he walk the earth, far and
wide, and witness to mercies undone and kind words left unsaid.

SCROOGE: You are fettered. Tell me why.

JACOB: I wear the chains I forged in life. Link by link and yard by yard. You
have been toiling on your own chain, Ebenezer, these last seven years….
Tis a ponderous chain.

SCROOGE: Oh, Jacob, speak comfort to me.

JACOB: I have none to give.

SCROOGE: But, Jacob, you were always a good man of business.

JACOB: Mankind WAS my business. Their welfare was my business! It is

at this time of the rolling year I suffer most. Why did I walk through crowds
with my eyes turned down and never raise them to that blessed star that
lead the wise men to that poor abode… Hear me! My time is nearly gone. I
am here to warn you. You have a chance and hope of escaping my fate,
Ebenezer. Tonight you will be visited by three spirits.
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SCROOGE: Oh, is, is this the chance of hope of which you were speaking?
I think I’d rather not.

JACOB: Expect the first tonight when the bell tolls one. Look to see me no
more.

SOUND: (RUSTLE OF THE GHOST AND ITS CHAINS)

SCROOGE: Marley! Jacob Marley!

(MUSIC … UP FOR AN ACCENT.)

(NARRATOR: WAIT FOR ACCENT TO F.O.)

NARRATOR: As the clock on the wall tolled one, Scrooge awoke. He was
lying on his bed, fully dressed. Suddenly, the curtains of his bed were
drawn aside, and Scrooge found himself face to face with the unearthly
visitor who drew them. It was a strange figure — like a child, yet its hair,
which hung about its neck and down its back, was white as if with age. Its
poise and gaze conveyed an uncommon strength. From the crown of its
head there sprung a bright clear jet of light, by which all this was visible.

SCROOGE: Are you the spirit whose coming was foretold to me?

CHRISTMAS PAST: I am.

SCROOGE: Who and what are you?

CHRISTMAS PAST: I am the ghost of Christmas Past.

SCROOGE: Long past?

CHRISTMAS PAST: No. Your past.

SCROOGE: Why are you here?

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CHRISTMAS PAST: Your welfare.

SCROOGE: A good night’s rest would do much for my welfare.

CHRISTMAS PAST: Your salvation then. Rise and walk with me.

SCROOGE: But I am mortal…and liable to fall.

CHRISTMAS PAST: Bare but a touch of my hand and you shall be upheld
in more than this.

(MUSIC - TIME TRAVEL TRANSITION.)

SOUND:(SLEIGH BELLS AND CAROLERS SINGING “GOD, REST YE

MERRY, GENTLEMEN” UNDER)

SCROOGE: Where are we? What’s become of the city? And there – there’s
snow upon the ground. Where are we?

CHRISTMAS PAST: These are the shadows of the things that have been.
You recognize this countryside?

SCROOGE: (GASPS) Oh. I know every inch of it. Every rock. Every tree.

CHRISTMAS PAST: And that bleak building over there?

SCROOGE: Ah, that building! Heh! I was a boy there! Yes, I went to school
in that horrible place.

CHRISTMAS PAST: Do you recollect that path?

SCROOGE: Heh! I could walk it blindfolded.

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CHRISTMAS PAST: Strange you should have forgotten it so many years.

Come, let us go closer. (BEAT) Look through the window into that cold,
barren room.

CHRISTMAS PAST: What do you see, Ebenezer Scrooge?

SCROOGE: I see a boy.

CHRISTMAS PAST: A solitary child, neglected by his family.

SCROOGE: Yes, yes, I see. I know that boy. (SIGHS) Oh. I was so lonely.
Poor boy.

SOUND: (Door open/close, footsteps running)

NARRATOR: At that moment the door to the classroom opened, and a

young girl came darting in, throwing her arms about the young lad.

FAN: Ebenezer, my dear, dear brother!

YOUNG SCROOGE: My dear, dear Fan!

FAN: I’ve come to bring you home, home for good and ever! Father has
been ever so much kinder these last few months, and when I asked if you
might come home for Christmas he said “Yes!” and that you should never
come back here again! So I’ve come for you, to take you home!

YOUNG SCROOGE: Oh, Fan, thank you!

FAN: Dear brother, you must forgive Papa, and forget the past, for our
dearest mother’s sake.

YOUNG SCROOGE: Oh, Fan, nobody else cares for me and nobody else
ever will! So, you must live forever, Fan! You must live forever!
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CHRISTMAS PAST: Your sister was always a delicate creature, whom a

breath might have withered. But she had a large heart.

SCROOGE: She had.

CHRISTMAS PAST: She died a married woman, and had, if I remember,

children.

SCROOGE: One child.

CHRISTMAS PAST: True. Your nephew.

SCROOGE: She died giving him life.

CHRISTMAS PAST: Just as your mother died, giving you life. Something
for which your father never forgave you, as if you were to blame.

SCROOGE: I don’t want to hear any more.

CHRISTMAS PAST: But you must. Come, Ebenezer Scrooge. Let us see
another Christmas!

(MUSIC … SINGING OUT … A BRIEF BRIDGE … MERRY PARTY

MUSIC UNDER)

CHRISTMAS PAST: Do you know this place, Ebenezer Scrooge?

SOUND: (CROWD OF PARTYGOERS LAUGH AND TALK UNDER)

SCROOGE: (DELIGHTED) Know it?! Know it! This is the counting-house where I
was apprenticed! (AFTER A PAUSE) It’s my old master! Bless his heart; old
Fezziwig! My master — alive again! And hosting one of his Christmas parties!
(CHUCKLES HAPPILY)
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SCROOGE: And the tables, all loaded with roasts and cider, mince pies! Oh,
what a jolly time we used to have!

CHRISTMAS PAST: Just because he gave you a party? It was very small!

SCROOGE: Small?!

CHRISTMAS PAST: He spent only a few pounds of your mortal money -

three or four pounds at most. Is that so much that he deserves your praise?

SCROOGE: But, but... it wasn't the money. He had the power to make our
service light or burdensome. The happiness he gives is quite as great as if
it had...as if it had... cost...a.... a fortune...

CHRISTMAS PAST: What's the matter?

SCROOGE: Oh, nothing.

CHRISTMAS PAST: Something, I think.

SCROOGE: It's just that I'd like to have a word with my own clerk just now,
that's all.

(Pause)

CHRISTMAS PAST: Turn and see yourself in love, Ebenezer Scrooge!

SOUND: (Crowd noise subsides, continues under)

(MUSIC, tender, continues under)

Y.A. SCROOGE: It's only a shilling ring, Alice. But one day it will be a gold
one, when we're rich enough.

ALICE: Oh, it's a beautiful ring...but I mustn't accept it.

Y.A. SCROOGE: Why not? Is it not good enough for you?

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ALICE: Oh, no, no!

Y.A. SCROOGE: Is it because I'm not rich enough for you?

ALICE: How foolish of you. Of course not! It's just that - you're still so young
and you may have a change of heart one day.

Y.A. SCROOGE: Oh, dearest Alice. If ever I have a change of heart toward
you, it will be because my heart has ceased to beat.

ALICE: And it makes no difference that I'm poor?

Y.A. SCROOGE: I love you because you're poor, not proud and foolish.

ALICE: Will you...always feel like this?

Y.A. SCROOGE: As long as I live - longer. Forever and ever.

ALICE: Then - I accept your ring.

Y.A. SCROOGE: Oh, Alice. God Bless you, my love. From now to eternity,
we two are as one.

SCROOGE: I've seen enough!

CHRISTMAS PAST: Yet, more awaits you!

SCROOGE: I won't look!

CHRISTMAS PAST: You shall!

(MUSIC)

NARRATOR: In an instant, the world dissolved around him, and Scrooge

found himself standing in a humble room, lit only by the flickering flames of
a dying fire. The silence was broken by the raspy breaths of a frail woman
lying in bed, attended by a doctor. Scrooge’s heart pounded in his chest as
he recognized the face, pale and drawn, of his beloved sister, Fan.

SCROOGE: No, spirit! Not here!

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CHRISTMAS PAST: Yes! Here!

SOUND: (Door opening)

NARRATOR: The bedroom door opens and a young Scrooge enters,

rushing to his sister’s bedside.

Y.A. SCROOGE: Fan, it's me. Your brother. Do you know me?

FAN: ...Ebenezer. They sent for you. Promise me...

Y.A. SCROOGE: Promise you what, dear? I'll promise you anything, only
there isn't going to be any need. You're going to get well again, Fan.

FAN: No...

Y.A. SCROOGE: You are, you are. Dear God, you must. You can't die. Fan,
you mustn't die. You're going to get well again, Fan. You're going to get well
again.

SOUND: (DOOR, FOOTSTEPS)

FAN: Ebenezer, promise me...you'll take care of my boy. Promise me...take

care of my boy...

(PAUSE)

CHRISTMAS PAST: You heard her.

SCROOGE: Forgive me Fan, forgive me...forgive me, forgive me,

Fan...(face in hands, crying).

(MUSIC … A BRIEF BRIDGE, THEN UNDER)

CHRISTMAS PAST: Here, in this little room, with a fair young girl by your
side. Do you recognize her, Ebenezer?

SCROOGE: (GASPS) Alice!

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CHRISTMAS PAST: The same Alice you swore to love for all eternity,
Ebenezer. She is not changed by the harshness of the world. But you are.

SCROOGE: No! No, please!

Y.A. SCROOGE: So you no longer love me?

ALICE: You no longer love me.

Y.A. SCROOGE: When have I ever said that?

ALICE: In words, never.

Y.A.SCROOGE: In what, then?

ALICE: In the way you have changed.

Y.A. SCROOGE: But how have I changed toward you?

ALICE: (To him) By changing toward the world.

Y.A. SCROOGE: Is it such a terrible thing for a man to struggle to be

something better than he is?

ALICE: Another idol has replaced me in your heart. A golden idol.

Y.A. SCROOGE: It's singular. A world that can be so brutally cruel to the
poor and professes to condemn the pursuit of wealth in the same breath!

ALICE: You fear the world too much.

Y.A. SCROOGE: Ha - with reason. I am not changed toward you.

ALICE: Aren't you? (Pause) Our promise is an old one. Made when we
were young and poor, and content to be so. (Pause) If you had never made
that promise, tell me, would you seek me out and try to win me now?

Y.A. SCROOGE: Of course I would.

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ALICE: No. If you were free today, would you choose a dowerless girl, with
neither wealth or social standing? You, who now weigh everything by gain?
I bring you nothing but repentance and regret. That is why...I release you.

ALICE: You know I'm right, then?

Y.A. SCROOGE: I must bow to your conviction that you are.

ALICE: May you be happy in the life you have chosen.

Y.A. SCROOGE: Thank you. I shall be.

SOUND: (footsteps and door opens/closes)

ALICE: Goodbye... (cries)

SCROOGE: Show me no more! Show me no more, Spirit!!

CHRISTMAS PAST: But I told you. These are but shadows of the things
that have been. They are what they are. Do not blame me.

SCROOGE: I don't want to see any more!

CHRISTMAS PAST: But we have not done yet, Ebenezer Scrooge. We do

but turn another page.

(MUSIC … A BRIEF BRIDGE, THEN UNDER)

NARRATOR: The ghost transports Scrooge to his offices, seven Christmas

Eves ago. Mrs. Dilber, Jacob Marley's housekeeper, comes to the office
with the news of Mr. Marley's impending death, only to find Bob Cratchit
working alone.

SOUND: (Ringing bell with door open/close)

MRS. DILBER: Pardon me, I've just come from Mr. Marley's with a
message for Mr. Scrooge.

BOB: Can I give it to him?

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MRS. DILBER: Well, praise your great, kind self, dear. I'm to say that Mr.
Marley ain't expected to make it through the night and that if Mr. Scrooge
wants to take his leave of him, he'd best nip along smartly or there won't be
no Mr. Marley to take leave of, as we understand the use of the word. (Bob
clucks his tongue). He's breathing very queer - when he does breathe at all.

BOB: I'll tell him, as he's run to the bank just now, but I daresay he won't be
coming back until we close the doors for the evening. That's not until 7:00.

MRS. DILBER:I shan't get Mr. Marley to hold out 'til then, I'm sure. Much
obliged. Goodnight to ya. And a Merry Christmas, if it ain't out of keeping
with the situation.

BOB: Thank you. And the same to you.

NARRATOR: Jacob Marley died that very night. Scrooge felt no remorse for
having not rushed to the bedside of his friend and colleague. Scrooge
arrived only in time for Jacob, in his last breath, to plead with him to change
- a plea ignored by the unmoved Scrooge.

CHRISTMAS PAST: Jacob Marley worked at your side for 18 years. He

was the only friend you ever had. And what did you feel when you signed
the registry of his burial, and took his money, his house, and his few, mean
sticks of furniture? Did you feel a little pity for him? I don't think so. You
were nothing but a wrenching, grasping, scraping, covetous, old sinner.

APPLAUSE LIGHT

ANNOUNCEMENT/MUSIC BREAK

Greg: Thank you so much, folks! Now, a few christmas tunes for your
enjoyment this evening! Our lead singer is Ben Holland, on soprano is
Emma Rodden, singing alto tonight is Linda Priest Rodden, on tenor is
Tristan Rodden and on bass we have Lucas Rodden! Let’s hear it for them,
folks!

Cold cold winter/let it snow/ ?

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HOST: And now, back to A Christmas Carol.

SOUND: (Clock chime)

NARRATOR: On the stroke of One, Scrooge awakened suddenly and sat

bolt upright in his own bed. He remembered the words of Marley’s ghost
and wondered from which direction the second spectre would appear. At
that moment, nothing between a baby and a rhinoceros would have
astonished him very much.

Now, being prepared for almost anything, he was not by any means
prepared for nothing; and, consequently, when no shape appeared, he was
taken with a violent fit of trembling. Five minutes, ten minutes, a quarter of
an hour went by, yet nothing came. Then, as he sat in his bed, he became
aware gradually of a great blaze of ruddy light, which seemed to shine
upon him from the adjoining room. He got up softly and shuffled in his
slippers to the door.

It was his own sitting-room — no doubt about that. But it had undergone a
surprising transformation. The walls and ceiling were so hung with living
green, that it looked a perfect grove; from every part of which, bright
gleaming berries glistened and such a mighty blaze went roaring up the
chimney, as had never been known in Scrooge’s time, or for many and
many a winter season gone. Heaped up on the floor, to form a kind of
throne, were turkeys, geese, game, poultry, great joints of meat,
suckling-pigs, long wreaths of sausages, mince-pies, plum-puddings,
barrels of oysters, red-hot chestnuts, and seething bowls of punch, that
made the chamber dim with their delicious steam.

In easy state upon this couch, there sat a jolly Giant, glorious to see; who
bore a glowing torch, in shape not unlike Plenty’s horn, and held it up, high
up, to shed its light on Scrooge, as he came peeping round the door.

CHRISTMAS PRESENT: Ha-ha! Come here, and know me better, man! I

am the spirit of Christmas Present! Look upon me! You've never seen the
like of me before!
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SCROOGE: Never. And I wish the pleasure had been indefinitely

postponed.

CHRISTMAS PRESENT: So, is your heart still unmoved toward us, then?

SCROOGE: I'm too old! I'm quite beyond hope! Go redeem some younger,
more promising creature, and let me keep Christmas in my own way.

CHRISTMAS PRESENT: Mortal! We spirits of Christmas do not live one

day of the year. We live the whole 365! So it is true of the child born in
Bethlehem. He does not live in men's hearts one day a year, but in all the
days of the year! You have chosen not to seek him in your heart.

Therefore you shall come with me and seek him in the hearts of men of
goodwill. Come, touch my robe.

(MUSIC … UP FOR A TRANSITION, THEN UNDER)

SCROOGE: Where have you brought me, Spirit?

CHRISTMAS PRESENT: A humble dwelling in a humble street.

SCROOGE: It’s humble enough.

CHRISTMAS PRESENT: Yet there is happiness there.

SCROOGE: Who – who are these people? Who’s that woman? And the
children?

CHRISTMAS PRESENT: Know you not the family of your clerk, Bob
Cratchit? His wife, dressed in a twice-turned gown, but brave in ribbons,
laying the table for their Christmas dinner. And there, assisting her, is her
daughter Martha. Listen, Scrooge.

SOUND: (FAMILY CHATTER UP)

CRATCHIT CHILD: Here’s Martha, mother!

AD LIBS: Martha! (EXCITED CHATTER) - Tris, Ben, Luke

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MRS. CRATCHIT: Why, bless your heart alive, Martha, my dear, merry
Christmas to you!

MARTHA: Merry Christmas, Mother!

AD LIBS: Merry Christmas! Merry Christmas!

MRS. CRATCHIT: How late you are, my dear.

MARTHA: Oh, we’d a deal of work to finish up last night and we had to
clear away this morning.

MRS. CRATCHIT: Well, never mind so long as you’re here now. Sit ye
down before the fire and have a warm, Lord bless ye!

MARTHA: Where’s father?

MRS. CRATCHIT: He’s been to church with Tiny Tim. They’ll be along
directly.

MARTHA: (CONCERNED) How IS Tiny Tim, mother? Any better at all?

MRS. CRATCHIT: Sometimes I think he is. And sometimes I think – oh,

dear God, if anything should happen to Tiny Tim–

MARTHA: Mother! You mustn’t even THINK of such a thing!

CHILDREN AD LIB: Here they are!

MRS. CRATCHIT: There’s Tiny Tim!

BOB: Merry Christmas, everybody! Martha! Welcome, my dear!

MARTHA: Merry Christmas, father! And Tim!

TINY TIM: Merry Christmas, Martha!

MARTHA: Oh, Tim, you darling! Oh, father, I’m so glad to be home.

BOB: And we’re so glad to have you, Martha.

 22

MRS. CRATCHIT: And how did little Tim behave in church, Bob?

BOB: Oh, as good as gold, and better.

TINY TIM: I like church, Mother. Oh, they sang the nicest songs. I hope
people saw me there.

MRS. CRATCHIT: Saw you there? And why, Tim?

TINY TIM: Well, don’t you see? Because I’m lame. And if they saw my
crutch, it might be pleasant for them to remember on Christmas who it was
made lame beggars walk, and blind men see.

BOB: Oh, bless you, my son.

CHILDREN AD LIB: Are we ready to eat, Mother? Come on, let’s eat!
(CHILDREN CONTINUE TO CHATTER UNDER FOLLOWING:)

MRS. CRATCHIT: Yes, children. We’re all ready. Come, come take your
places now. And, Bob, wait your turn — there’s plenty! Stuffing and
dressing and plum pudding for all of you. Martha, you take care of Tiny Tim.

MARTHA: Yes, Mother.

MRS. CRATCHIT: You see that he eats plenty, he must get tall and well.
Now, sit down, sit down, everyone!

BOB: Ah, now, my dears. Shall we say grace? (Spoken under Scrooge and
Christmas Present lines) Dear Father in Heaven, thank you for your gifts of
bounty, this Christmas and always. May we be truly blessed for another
year, and may we be worthy of your gifts. Bless this food to the good of our
bodies.

SCROOGE: Spirit, tell me if Tiny Tim will live.

CHRISTMAS PRESENT: I see a vacant seat in the poor chimney-corner,

and a crutch without an owner, lovingly preserved.

SCROOGE: Oh, no, no! Kind Spirit, say he'll be spared. Say he'll live.
 23

CHRISTMAS PRESENT: (Quoting Scrooge) "Let him die and decrease the
surplus population!"

SCROOGE: Oh, no, spirit... no...(Cries into hands)

BOB: Amen.

TINY TIM: God bless us, everyone.

BOB: And now, to Mr. Scrooge! The founder of the feast!

MRS. CRATCHIT: (UPSET) The Founder of the Feast indeed! — who pays
you all of fifteen shillings a week! I wish I had him here. I’d give him a piece
of my mind to feast on, and I hope he’d have a good appetite for it!

BOB: (PROTESTS) Oh, my dear — the children! Christmas Day.

MRS. CRATCHIT: Well, it should be Christmas Day, I’m sure, on which one
drinks the health of such an odious, stingy, unfeeling man as Mr. Scrooge.
You know he is, Bob! Nobody knows it better than you, poor fellow!

BOB: (INSISTS) My dear, Christmas Day.

MRS. CRATCHIT: I’ll drink his health for your sake and the Day’s, not for
his. Long life to him! A merry Christmas and a happy new year! He’ll be
very merry and very happy, I have no doubt!

TINY TIM: And I say, God bless him, too, Mother. And everyone.

CHILDREN AD LIB: (AGREEING WITH TIM)

(MUSIC... TRANSITION AS CRATCHITS FADE AWAY)

NARRATOR: There was nothing of high mark in all this. They were not a
handsome family, the Cratchits; they were not well dressed; their shoes
were far from being water-proof; their clothes were scanty. And yet, they
were happy, grateful, pleased with one another, and contented with the
time. When, at last, they faded, Scrooge had his eye upon them, and
especially on Tiny Tim, until the last.
 24

(MUSIC … UNDER)

(Poor house, members singing “Hark the Herald Angels Sing”)

SCROOGE: Spirit, what place is this?

CHRISTMAS PRESENT: A poor house. A place where people go who

cannot afford the most basic necessities of food, clothing and a roof over
their heads.

SCROOGE: What have they to be singing about? They're so poor...

CHRISTMAS PRESENT: They know me...see? It matters not that they

have no material possessions, for they are together, singing of the
celebration of Christ's birth, and that is enough for them. The small meal
they'll share and the fact that they are not on the London streets this cold
night will warm their hearts for a good many days to come.

NARRATOR: Many calls Scrooge made that night with the Ghost of
Christmas Present. Down among the miners they went, who labour in the
bowels of the earth and out to sea among the sailors at their watch — dark,
ghostly figures in their several stations.

Much they saw, and far they went, and many places they visited, but
always with a happy end. It was a long night — if it was only a night; And it
was strange, too, that while Scrooge remained unaltered in his outward
form, the Ghost grew visibly older.

GHOST OF CHRISTMAS PRESENT: My life upon this globe is very brief,

Ebenezer. It ends to-night.

SCROOGE: To-night!

GHOST OF CHRISTMAS PRESENT: To-night at midnight.

(SOUND: Clock tower strikes 12)

CHRISTMAS PRESENT: Hark! The hour has come.

 25

SCROOGE: Oh, no, no. Not yet! Not yet! There – there – there are still
more things I wish to learn.

GHOST OF CHRISTMAS PRESENT: These you will learn from still another
Spirit. Still another Spirit, Ebenezer.

ANNOUNCEMENT/INTERMISSION

HOST: Thank you, folks! We are going to take a brief intermission so feel
free to stretch your legs for a bit but don’t go far - we’ll be back shortly!

(Chad: Applause light)

MUSIC BREAK #2

HOST: Thank you so much! Let’s hear it for our singers again, folks! Ben
holland on lead with emma, tristan, lucas, and linda rodden! And now we
return to A Christmas Carol.

NARRATOR: As the bell in the clock tower struck twelve, the Ghost of
Christmas Present faded away into the night, and Scrooge found himself
once more in his bed, in his dressing gown and his nightcap on his head.
He heard the bell’s final toll and then... he remembered the prediction of old
Jacob Marley. And lifting up his eyes, beheld the third Spirit...

(MUSIC … DARKER … UNDER)

NARRATOR: … a solemn Phantom, shrouded in black, draped and

hooded, coming towards him, slowly and silently, like a mist along the floor.

SCROOGE: I know you. You – you are the Ghost of Christmas Yet To
Come. You’ll show me the shadows of things that have not happened, but
will happen in the time before us. Answer me, Spirit, Ghost of the Future! I
fear you more than any spectre I’ve seen. Yet I know your purpose is to do
me good, and as I hope to live to be another man from what I was, lead on.
Lead on! The night’s waning fast, and time’s precious.

(MUSIC … AN ACCENT … THEN UNDER)

 26

AD LIBS: (Old Joe, Mrs. Dilber, Laundress, muttering, laughing, searching

through bags, silverware clinking, etc.)

NARRATOR: The walls of Scrooge’s bedroom fell away into the darkness,
and he was transported to a dark and miserable den, the floors littered with
all manner of bottles, rags, and scraps of iron. Scrooge could make out
three figures in the far corner, cowering in the shadows.

MRS. DILBER: (Laughing) Oh, look, old Joe! The chow lady, and the
laundress! Both here at the same time without meaning it!

MRS. DILBER(cont’d): We both had a right to take care of ourselves! HE

always did!

LAUNDRESS: That's right! True enough! No one more so!

MRS. DILBER: Who's the worse for the loss of a few things like these? Not
a dead man, I suppose! Ha! If he wanted to keep'em after he was dead,
why wasn't he more amiable in his lifetime? If he HAD been, he wouldn't
have been lyin' there gasping for his last, all alone!

LAUNDRESS: Never was a truer word spoke! It was a judgment on 'im!

MRS. DILBER: And it would have been a heavier one too, if I could have
laid me hands on anything else! We knew pretty well we were helping
ourselves before we come here, I believe! It's no sin. Open the bundle, Joe!
(Whispering, and chuckling) Open the bundle.

LAUNDRESS: No! I'll go first. Just to show we both got trust in one another.

MRS. DILBER: It's very polite of you, I do grant, I'm sure.

LAUNDRESS: (Joe grunts after each of these) 2 sheets. 2 towels. Shirt.

Teaspoons - 2 silver. Sugar tongs. Boots, assorted.

JOE: Um.........17 and 6. (He says the next line to himself. Laundress is
unhappy with the sum.) I always give too much to the ladies. It's a
weakness of mine. That's how I come to ruin meself!
 27

MRS. DILBER: Now, open MY bundle, Joe!

JOE: What's in it?

MRS. DILBER: Ah, you wait and see! ...Bed curtains!

JOE: Bed curtains?

MRS. DILBER: Ah,yes, bed curtains!

JOE: You mean to say - you took 'em down with him lyin' there?

MRS. DILBER: Yes, I do! Why not?

JOE: (Beat) You was born to make a fortune! And you certainly will!

MRS. DILBER: You can look through THAT 'til your eyes ache and you
won't find a hole in it! It's the best night shirt he had! They'd have wasted it,
if it hadn't been for me!

JOE: Wasted it?

MRS. DILBER: Why they'd buried him in it, of course! (Pause) But I took it
off him again! As if calico wasn't good enough for burying! Anyway, it's just
as becoming to the body! He couldn't have looked uglier than what he did
in THIS one!

(All laugh)

LAUNDRESS: It's poetic justice! He frightened everybody away while he

was alive, and now he benefits US when he's dead!

(All laugh again, fading out.).

SCROOGE: Spirit! Show me some tenderness associated with a death!

(MUSIC … OUT)

SCROOGE: Spirit! Why – why have you brought me here again? Here to
Bob Cratchit’s home? But it’s not the same– What – ?
 28

SCROOGE: Why is it so quiet? So very quiet here?

MRS. CRATCHIT: (WEEPING)

MARTHA: Mother… Mother, please.

MRS. CRATCHIT: (WEEPING) Oh, my son. My little son. Tiny Tim. I loved
him so.

MARTHA: Oh, Mother dear, you mustn’t. It’s almost time for father to be
home. Don’t let him see you crying.

MRS. CRATCHIT: Yes. Yes, Martha.

MARTHA: He’s late tonight.

MRS. CRATCHIT: He walks slower than he used to. And yet I’ve known him
to walk very fast indeed with Tiny Tim on his shoulder.

MARTHA: So have I, Mother.

MRS. CRATCHIT: But he was light to carry. And his father loved him so that
it was no trouble: no trouble–

SOUND: (DOOR OPENS)

MRS. CRATCHIT: Bob!

BOB: Good evening, my dear.

MRS. CRATCHIT: You went today, then, Robert?

BOB: Yes, my dear. It would have done your heart good to see what a
peaceful place it is. As I was standing there I almost felt his little hand slip
in mine. You see, dear, he was telling me, in his own little way, that it was
all right. That we mustn't mourn any longer. That we must
be...happy...(Crying)...oh, Tiny Tim! My Tiny Tim!

AD LIBS: (Cratchit family, crying, consoling)

 29

SCROOGE: No, spirit! No, please tell me the boy doesn't die! Please!
Spirit, he CAN'T die!

(MUSIC … A HUGE, SUDDEN ACCENT, THEN UNDER, EERILY)

ANNOUNCEMENT/MUSIC BREAK

(CHAD: applause light)

HOST: Thank you folks! Now we invite Ben and our back-up singers to step
mic-ward once again with a few more holiday favorites!

(CHAD: APPLAUSE LIGHT)

HOST: And now, folks, the conclusion of Charles Dickens’ ‘A Christmas

Carol’!

SCROOGE: Spirit! Where are we now? Merciful Heaven! A church yard!

Overrun by grass and weeds, choked with too much burying — desolate,
lonely, crumbling gravestones. Spirit! Before I draw nearer to that
gravestone, answer me one question. Are – are these shadows of things
that Will be, or – or are they shadows of things that May be, only? Huh?
Will – will you not speak to me, Spirit? What IS that grave to which you
point?

SCROOGE: I see it now. There’s writing on that stone. The name on the
gravestone is — (READS, AWED) Ebenezer Scrooge. Ebenezer Scrooge?!
Oh, no, no, Spirit! No, no, no! Hear me! I’m not the man I was! Why show
me this, if I am past all hope?! Tell me that I can change these dreadful
shadows you’ve shown me by an altered life! I’ll honor Christmas in my
heart! I’ll – I’ll try to keep it all the year. I’ll live in the Past, the Present, and
the Future. And I’ll not shut out the lessons that they teach. Tell me, Spirit,
tell me that I can sponge away the writing on that stone. Spirit. I beg you,
Spirit! I beg you!

(CAROLERS SING “GOD REST YE MERRY, GENTLEMEN”)

 30

SCROOGE: (WHISPERS) Spirit, I promise. I promise on my knees. I

promise. I promise. I’ll – I – (PAUSES, HEARS CAROLERS SINGING)
Why, what’s this? It’s my own drape. Oh! I’m home. In my own bed. In my
own room.

SOUND: (WINDOW OPENS, CAROLERS LOUDER, THEN UNDER)

SCROOGE: And the sun! The sun’s shining! It’s clear! It’s bright! No fog!
What a beautiful day. Oh, glorious, glorious.

SOUND: (BEDROOM DOOR OPENS, CLINKING OF FOOD TRAY)

MRS. DILBER: Good morning, sir.

SCROOGE: Tell me, what day is it?

MRS. DILBER: What day? Why it's Christmas Day, of course.

SCROOGE: Christmas Day! Christmas Day! Then I haven't missed it! The
spirits must have done everything in one night. Of course, they can do
anything, can't they? Of course they can! (Laughs)

MRS. DILBER: Are you quite yourself, sir?

SCROOGE: I don't know! NO, I don't think so! I hope not! The curtains are
still here! You didn't tear them down and sell them! Everything's here! I'm
here! Then the shadows of things that would be, CAN be dispelled! And
they will be! I KNOW they will be! (Laughs) I don't know what to do! I'm as
light as a feather! I'm as happy as an angel! I'm as merry as a schoolboy!
I'm...I'm as giddy as a drunken man! Oh, Mrs. Dilber, fetch me that hand
mirror, won’t you?

MRS. DILBER: (hesitantly) Here, sir.

Ah, thank you! (A comical, laughing gasp at his own appearance.) AH!
(Laughing) Oh, Merry Christmas, Ebeneezer, you old humbug. And a
Happy New Year! As if you deserved it!

(PAUSE)
 31

SCROOGE: And a Merry Christmas to you, Mrs. Dilber.

MRS. DILBER: Same to you, sir.

SCROOGE: Thank you, thank you, thank you! And many, many of them!
Look, Mrs. Dilber, there's the corner where the spirit of Christmas Present
sat! And there's the door where Jacob Marley's ghost came through! It's
right! It's true! It all happened! (Laughs) I don't know what day of the month
it is! I don't know how long I've been amongst the spirits. (Breathlessly
singing, as if dancing about the room) I don't know anything! I never DID
know anything! (Laughs) But now I KNOW that I don't know, all on a
Christmas morning! (Gleefully) I must stand on my head! I must stand on
my head!

MRS. DILBER: (screams)

SOUND: (Sound of Mrs. Dilber’s footsteps running from the room, and
Scrooge’s chasing after)

SCROOGE: Oh no, no! Shh! Please, please Mrs. Dilber! Shh! I'm not mad!

(MRS. DILBER is momentarily calm.)

SCROOGE: Boo! (laughs)

MRS. DILBER: (Screaming again) Don't be violent, Mr. Scrooge or you'll

force me to scream for the beadle!

SCROOGE: The beadle, madam? (Laughing) The beadle, indeed! Here,

here, now hold out your hand. (Fumbles for the penny) There! (Hands her
coin)

MRS. DILBER: A guinea? ... For me? ... What for?

SCROOGE: I'll give you one guess.

MRS. DILBER: To keep me mouth shut?

 32

SCROOGE: Ho - ho! To keep me mouth shut! To keep me mouth shut! No,

no, no, Mrs. Dilber! It's for a Christmas present.

MRS. DILBER: A Christmas present?...for me?

SCROOGE: Of course, for you. A merry, merry Christmas, dear Mrs. Dilber.
Now, how much do I pay you?

MRS. DILBER: 2 shillings a week.

SCROOGE: What? 2 shillings...It's forthwith raised to 10!

MRS. DILBER: 10 shillings a week? Here, do you want to see the doctor?

SCROOGE: A doctor? Certainly not! Nor the undertaker! Now, off you go
and enjoy yourself, like a good girl!

MRS. DILBER: Bob's your uncle!! (Laughing) And Merry Christmas, Mr.
Scrooge, in keeping with the situation!

SCROOGE: The same to you, madam!

SOUND: (Footsteps across the floor, drawer opening(?), quill on paper)

SCROOGE: (Gleefully, to himself) And now, for the Cratchits. I’ll send them
the prize turkey from the Poulterer’s. They’ll never dream where it came
from. Why, it’s twice the size of Tiny Tim!

(MUSIC … A BRIEF BRIDGE, THEN UNDER)

MRS. CRATCHIT: (Reading the tag) Bob Cratchit, East Camden town.
That's you, Robert. Least-wise, there's no one else by that name that I
know of.

BOB: I wonder who could have sent it?

CRATCHIT CHILD: I think I know! Mr. Scrooge!

MRS. CRATCHIT: Oh, child, what on EARTH would make you say that?
 33

BOB: What would make Mr. Scrooge take such leave of his senses?

TINY TIM: Christmas!

(MUSIC … A BRIEF BRIDGE, THEN UNDER)

NARRATOR: Next morning, Scrooge was early at his office. He went early
for a reason. If he could only be there first, and catch Bob Cratchit coming
late! That was the thing he’d set his heart upon.

And he did it; yes, he did! The clock struck nine. No Bob. A quarter past.
No Bob. Scrooge sat with his door wide open, that he might see him come
in.

At last he came. His hat was off, before he opened the door; his comforter
too. He was on his stool in a jiffy; driving away with his pen, as if he were
trying to overtake nine o’clock.

BOB: (QUICKLY) … fifteen and twenty-one, six and carry the one.
Twenty-four and carry the two, thirty-one and eight and nine …

SCROOGE: Cratchit!

BOB: Yes, sir?

SCROOGE: You're late! What do you mean coming in this time of day?

BOB: Why, I am very sorry, sir. I am behind my time.

SCROOGE: You are indeed. Step this way Mr. Cratchit, sir.

BOB: Oh, it's only once a year, Mr. Scrooge. It shall not be repeated.
(Softer tone of voice) I was making rather merry yesterday, sir.

SCROOGE: (Fake laughing) Hm, hm, hm, hm, hm! I'm sure you were. We
won't beat about the bush, my friend - I'll not STAND this sort of thing any
longer! Which leaves me no alternative ...but to raise your salary!

(Scrooge eventually laughs and is very silly and carries on for a bit.)
 34

BOB: (AFTER A PAUSE, TREMBLING) Mr. Scrooge? Are you quite

yourself, sir?

(MUSIC … PLAYFUL, CHEERY … SNEAKS IN AND UNDER)

SCROOGE: No, no, I haven't taken leave of my senses, Bob. I've COME to
them...I want to help you and that family of yours. Merry Christmas. A
merrier Christmas than I've given you in many a year...We'll talk over the
particulars later,over a...over a bowl of hot punch...Now... you just go put
more coal on the fire and you go straight out and buy another coal scuttle,
before you dot another i!, Bob Cratchit!.

BOB: (Breathlessly) Yes, sir!

SOUND: (Door open/close)

SCROOGE: (Chuckles) Oh, I don't deserve to be so happy. (Laughs to

himself) But I can't help it... I just can't help it!

(MUSIC … CONTINUES AS A BRIDGE, AND UNDER)

NARRATOR: Scrooge was better than his word. He did it all, and infinitely
more; To Tiny Tim, who did NOT die, he was a second father. He became
as good a friend, as good a master, and as good a man, as the good old
city knew, or any other good old city, town, or borough, in the good old
world. Some people laughed to see the alteration in him, but he let them
laugh, and little heeded them. His own heart laughed. That was quite
enough for him. And it was always said of him, that he knew how to keep
Christmas well, if any man alive possessed the knowledge.

NARRATOR: May that be truly said of us. Of all of us. And so, as Tiny Tim
observed:

TINY TIM: God bless us, everyone.

ANNOUNCEMENT/ENDING SONG

APPLAUSE LIGHT
 35

HOST: Thank you, folks! We're so glad you joined us this evening! We'd
like to close out tonight’s broadcast with a sing-a-long of Irving Berlin’s
“White Christmas!” I’ll sing the first time through, and then welcome
everyone to join in!

MUSIC: “White Christmas”