photo by Ben Hillyer

Holiday heartwarmer

Subtle changes make performance a can’t miss

By Jennifer Edwards (Contact) | The Natchez Democrat

Published Sunday, December 7, 2008

It seems that a few ghosts have been haunting the Natchez Little Theatre stage recently — four to be exact.

And along the way they have been taking some things, mainly one man’s bad attitude.

“A Natchez Christmas Carol,” an original adaptation of Charles Dickens’ timeless Christmas tale “A Christmas Carol,” is currently on stage at the Linton Avenue theater.

Layne Taylor, who wrote the adaptation for the 2004 theater season, said it just seemed natural to set the Dickens’ tale in Natchez.

“The tale is so timeless, and everyone loves it,” said Taylor, executive director of Natchez Little Theatre. “The transition to Natchez as the setting was virtually seamless.”

The Christmas play is performed each year in December by volunteer actors and actresses, but Taylor said each year the play is just different enough to draw big crowds.

“With humans on stage nothing is ever the same because so much of it has to do with individual interpretation of the character,” Taylor said. “You can have six different performances and none of them will be exactly the same.”

This year’s rendition will have even more spice than years past. For the first time, Taylor had handed the director’s chair for “A Natchez Christmas Carol” over to someone else.

Landon Henry, a sophomore at Co-Lin Natchez, has taken over directing duties for the play.

“This play was my baby. I wrote it and have always directed it,” Taylor said. “But Landon, I totally trust him to put his own spin on it.”

And Henry has done just that. He started by casting a larger than average cast with 38 people making up the cast and crew.

Henry said that managing such large group can be difficult, but he doesn’t have any regrets.

“We have really come together like a family. Everyone has been completely focused and dedicated the entire time,” Henry said. “To have a cast of all volunteers work the way this cast has is just mind blowing to me.”

One of the biggest changes Henry made was to cast the Ghost of Christmas Past as a male role instead of the usual female role.

“That caused him to have to do some rewriting of my script but it really works,” Taylor said.

Henry said the inspiration to cast the part as a male “just popped into (his) head” before auditions began, but there was a time when he wasn’t sure he was going to find the right person to play the part.

“The first night of auditions I didn’t see anyone that was right for the part,” Henry said. “And during the second night of the auditions, I still hadn’t found anyone who I thought was right, but later into the second night William (Ladner) walked in, and I was like ‘That’s him. That is my Ghost of Christmas Past.’”

Though, Henry has made his own interpretations in some areas, the play remains the heartwarming story of Ebeneezer Scrooge and the Cratchit family.

Scrooge is an old miserly man who’s only concern is counting the profits of his Natchez cotton brokerage. But Scrooge has a change of heart after being visited and spooked by four ghosts.

“Don Vesterse plays Scrooge again and he does just a wonderful job, and it is a big role with probably 50 percent of the dialogue,” Taylor said. “As evil and mean as he is in the beginning, he is able to steal the affection of the audience with his change in the end.”

Scrooge, the Cratchits and all the ghosts will be on stage today for a 2 p.m. matinee and again at 7 p.m. on Dec. 12 and 13 and 2 p.m. on Dec. 14.

Tickets for all shows are still available by calling the Natchez Little Theatre box office at 601-442-2233 or 1-877-440-2233 or online at www.natcheztheatre.com. Tickets are $15 for adults and $12 for youth 18 and under and senior citizens 60 and over.