Short Takes

A Look at Our Lobby

Step back in time as we celebrate 20 years of A Christmas Carol at Hartford Stage! Audiences both young and old have been delighted by Michael Wilson’s ghostly, heart-felt adaptation of Charles Dickens’ holiday classic since it first debuted in 1998. Do you know when flying apparitions appeared? Or when stunning costume and set redesigns took place? Find out through this special timeline chronicling Christmas Carols Past!

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The cast of Anastasia to perform during Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade!

The cast of Anastasia will perform during the 91^st Annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. The parade will be broadcast nationally on NBC affiliates from 9 a.m. to noon on Thursday, November 23.

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Original 1939 Marshall Field & Company Christmas Carol Display Gifted to Hartford Stage

An original 1939 Charles Dickens’ Christmas Carol storefront display from Marshall Field & Company has been gifted to Hartford Stage by Bill and Joy Kelleher. The vignette, in two intricately-detailed panels, will be on display in the front windows of Hartford Stage during the entire run of A Christmas Carol. The panels were repaired and refurbished by Hartford Stage’s Props and Electrical teams.

The Chicago-based Marshall Field & Company was once the largest wholesale and retail dry goods business in the world. Now a National Historic Landmark, the iconic Chicago location is still the second largest store in the world and has been owned by the Macy’s Corporation since 2005.  The Dickens display was rescued from imminent disposal by a Chicago resident in the late 1930s. Ten years later, it was housed at the Yesteryears (also known as the “Old Doll Museum”) in Sandwich, Massachusetts. Bill and Joy Kelleher, owners of Special Joys Doll Shop & Toy Museum in Coventry, acquired the Dickens display for their business in the late 1980s, where it resided for nearly 30 years.

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Tiny Tim’s Holiday Food Drive

Hartford Stage will host its annual Tiny Tim’s Holiday Food Drive on behalf of Hands On Hartford during the run of A Christmas Carol (November 24-December 30). Patrons can drop off unexpired, non-perishable goods at Guest Services on performance days of A Christmas Carol or at the box office during regular business hours. Suggested donation items include:

• Boxed cereal and oatmeal
• Canned fruit and vegetables
• Drinks (coffee, tea, 100% juice)
• White or brown rice
• Pasta and sauce
• Canned tuna
• Canned soup
• Peanut butter and jelly
• Children’s backpack-friendly snacks
• Holiday staples such as gravy and cranberry sauce

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A Christmas Carol Display at Festival of Trees and Traditions

Hartford Stage celebrates the 20^th anniversary of its beloved Hartford holiday favorite with another annual local tradition – the Wadsworth Atheneum’s 44^th Annual Festival of Trees and Traditions!  Every year community members, artists and organizations decorate holiday trees and wreaths to be displayed in the museum’s galleries. Hartford Stage’s display takes you inside A Christmas Carol with a stroll along London’s Victorian streets as we pays homage to the ghosts of the past, present and future. Public hours for viewing the Festival of Trees & Traditions are 10am–5pm from December 1–10. For more information, visit https://thewadsworth.org/festivaloftrees/.

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Sharon Washington visits Hartford!

Celebrated actor and playwright Sharon Washington was the guest speaker at the Hartford Public Library’s Annual Meeting on Thursday, October 12. Washington gave a sneak-peek at her critically-acclaimed one-woman show Feeding the Dragon, coming to Hartford Stage in January. Later in the evening, Hartford Stage board member Richard Alleyne and his wife Julie, presented a private Salon with Washington, hosted by Drs. Shaun Biggers and Kenneth Alleyne, at The Hartford Club. Washington spoke with guests about her career and her play – a theatrical memoir recounting her youth living in a branch of the New York Public Library.

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Become our “Partner in Crime”

In February, Hartford Stage will present the thrilling stage adaptation of Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express. This lavish and highly entertaining production debuted at Princeton’s McCarter Theatre last spring, where it became the best-selling show in their 57-year history as a producing theatre.

Hartford Stage has created an opportunity for mystery lovers and theatre aficionados to become our “Partners in Crime” with this production. For contributions of $1,500 to $6,000, donors will garner special recognition, as well as access to the award-winning artists involved in this extraordinary production. At the top level, you can host a pre-show dinner in our exclusive intermission lounge, which will be transformed into the dining car of the Orient Express for the run of the show, with first-class food and service.  For more information about becoming a “Partner in Crime,” please call Antay Bilgutay at 860-520-7249.

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Next on Stage … Feeding the Dragon

The Little Girl Who Lived in the Library. Actor and playwright Sharon Washington portrays nearly 20 characters in her own true story of growing up in the custodial apartment of a Manhattan library, where her father toils night and day to load the fiery furnace with coal, or in the eyes of a fanciful little bookworm, to “feed the dragon.” Shrouded in family mystery, Washington’s story boldly examines how both the power of forgiveness and her lifelong love for the written word have helped her battle dragons of all forms. January 11 through February 4, 2018.