A Christmas Carol & The Spirit of a Famished Child

The Overture Center for the Arts in downtown Madison.

 A wonderful actor by the name of James Ridge played Ebenezer Scrooge in a Children's Theater of Madison (CTW) production of A Christmas Carol at the Overture Center for the Arts in Madison last night. Both the play and Mr. Ridge were fantastic. It's an inspirational way to spend the holiday season. 

I attended the performance with my granddaughters, Elyse and Samantha, daughter, Stephanie, son-in-law, Eric, and his mother, Marie.

An amazing thing happened during the performance. Samantha experienced a growth spurt during the play. At least that's one explanation for her excessive hunger. (I believe the knowledge that her Mom had candy in her purse may also have been a contributing factor.)  A refrain heard throughout a large part of the presentation was: "I'm hungry."

But, in Samantha's defense, she is only six and the play is for children eight and older. A few pieces of candy, and one of my healthy snack bars, helped; as well as the arrival of the third ghost, The Spirit of Things to Come. The scary apparition held both girl's attention as they clung to their parents. (I swallowed hard a couple times myself.) Scary fellow—that ghost.

It has been some time since I've seen the play. Now that I have, I feel inspired to see the Nutcracker ballet later this month. The effort and expense would be worthwhile for the opportunity to experience The Overture Center during the holiday season once again.