Why Broadway’s ‘A Christmas Carol’ Isn’t What You’d Expect
Tony-winning scenic and costume designer Rob Howell discusses his nontraditional take on the holiday staple
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When director Matthew Warchus approached his longtime collaborator, scenic and costume designer Rob Howell, about doing a theatrical adaptation of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, they only knew what they didn’t want to see: a conventional Victorian set. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. “I’m not against any of that, and I may well do that version in the future,” says Howell, who’s a master of verisimilitude — his Tony-winning costumes and set for last season’s The Ferryman overflowed with authentic details that enhanced the Irish family drama. But for A Christmas Carol, Warchus wasn’t after realness. “He was reaching for something to do with community and sharing,” says Howell. “There were a lot of early talks about handbells and clementines and mince pies, all of the stuff that had nothing to do with scenery or costumes. But I could tell the conversations were getting at something about enlightenment and emotion and Scrooge being trapped in a cage.”
Howell translated those ideas into a set that’s full of surprises, just like the overall production. You’ve never seen Ebenezer Scrooge’s redemption tale staged like this. Metal doorframes pop up without warning, trapping the miser in a prison of his own making. His beloved money is stored in vaults that lock into the floor. Overhead, a canopy of glowing lanterns spills into the house, helping to erase the divide between the actors and the audience. At key moments snow falls and cast members cavort up and down the aisles, spreading cheer, ringing bells, handing out treats and even enlisting theatregoers in the action.
Yet “conceptually, it’s the same,” he insists. “Four doorframes, lanterns, Scrooge’s material worth buried in the floor, and we’re trusting the audience to fill in the gaps. That was a very liberating approach. We don’t need a backdrop of Dickensian London. I’m trying to get in under your radar. When Scrooge’s cage peels away, the doorframes fall down like the petals of a flower and light comes through the floorboards. That has an emotion to it.”
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Top image: Campbell Scott as Ebenezer Scrooge in A Christmas Carol. Photo by Joan Marcus.
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