Bah Humbug

Last weekend Charlotte, Josephine, Rachel and I appeared in A Christmas Carol.  I enjoyed myself, met some new friends and loved seeing the ladies shine.  Charlotte is in the back in this picture - she played Fan, Ebenezer's little sister who comes to see him and bring him home from school.  Her scene was in the Christmas Past portion of the play.  She did a great job - she only had three lines, but, one of them was a paragraph long and she nailed it.  Charlotte also played the part of a dancer at the Fezziwig party in Christmas Past.

Josephine, in the front, played a caroler.  She stood, center stage, and sang We Wish You A Merry Christmas until Scrooge stands and yells at her, calls her an imbecile and she shrinks away sadly.  The audience was always sympathetic to this pretty little girl being berated by the play's bully.  Later in the play Josephine also appears as Belle's (Scrooge's ex-fiance) daughter. She was unintimidated with her solo.  She also nailed it.

Rachel, in green here, had three roles.  Her main role was Belinda Crachit.  She has a bunch of lines in three different scenes (Christmas Past and Christmas Future), as she comforts her mother, supports her brother Tiny Tim, plays with her Crachit siblings and prepares the Christmas Pudding.  Rachel also appeared as a dancer at Fezziwig's party, and she played the role of Belle's friend, who meets Belle in the street in Christmas Past and they talk about Scrooge and how he is all alone in the world.

I played the role of Mrs. Dilber.  She is the laundress who picks over Ebenezer's dead body in Christmas Future and then sells his personal effects to make a little fast cash.  I wore rags and had dirt on my face.  It was fun.  The dress I'm wearing above is my other part - a party guest at Fred's party, in Christmas Present.  I didn't dance.  Whew.

I'm not itching to do another play.  All three ladies say they want to do the next one - CSI: Fairy Tales.  I'm glad they have found a great outlet and they enjoy the stage.  I say they can have it.  I love to watch.

Sorry the picture above of our family is so dark.  We only had candlelight in 1847, you know.  The picture to the right is Rachel (in green), with her Crachit family.  Mr. and Mrs. Crachit are actually Sgt. and Mrs. Shumway.  Becka, the blonde seated in front of her mom, and Alex, in the hat, are also Shumways.  The other siblings were loaners.  So sweet.  Aren't they a cute 19th century English family?