Go behind the scenes of a new $1 million production of 'A Christmas Carol' made in OKC

With theatrical fog roiling near his feet and chains dangling from his arms, Vince Leseney sends an amplified scream echoing eerily through the darkened Plaza Theatre.

At his otherworldly shout of "Ebenezer Scrooge!," fellow actor D. Lance Marsh whips around with wide eyes, crying out for mercy as the "dreadful apparition" of his late business partner, Jacob Marley, shambles toward him, dragging the metal money boxes chained to his hands.

"It is required of every man that the spirit within him should walk abroad among his fellow men and travel far and wide. And if that spirit goes not forth in life, it is condemned ..." Leseney spookily recites the famed lines from "A Christmas Carol" as he lumbers closer to Marsh's Scrooge.

"Hold, please. Thank you," interrupts Laurena Sherrill, stage manager for Lyric Theatre's new production of "A Christmas Carol," during a recent Friday night rehearsal.

"So, Vince, when did you walk there?"

As Leseney retraces his steps across Lyric's Plaza District stage, Sherrill and "A Christmas Carol" director Michael Baron count them off, noting each word that coincides with a footfall.

While Sherrill relays those details to sound designer Corey Ray so that he can create the cues for additional chain-rattling sound effects, Baron studies the sprawling Victoria-era recreation of a London city block devised by set designer Adam Koch.

"The entire thing is new, every inch of it," says Baron, Lyric Theatre's producing artistic director. "So, we have a lot of work to do."

What is new with this year's 'A Christmas Carol' at OKC's Lyric Theatre?

After staging Charles Dickens' enduring yuletide tale outdoors at the Harn Homestead for the past three years during the COVID-19 pandemic, Lyric is bringing its 13th annual production of the often-adapted "Ghost Story of Christmas" back indoors.

When this year's "A Christmas Carol" bows Nov. 24 — the day after Thanksgiving — in the Plaza Theatre, ticketholders won't see the same holiday show that Lyric last performed there in 2019. Last year, Devon Energy pledged a $1 million to help the nonprofit arts organization put on the classic Christmas show inside with a new set, costumes, lights, sound effects and staging.

"It's a terrific role. ... You get to go from being the meanest man on the planet to silly and funny and run the gamut of everything in between," says Marsh, professor of acting and head of performance for Oklahoma City University's School of Theatre, during a break at rehearsal.

"It's incredibly exciting to do it here with all of the stuff — with the flying and with the turntable, the lights and all the sounds and snow. So, it's gonna be magical."

What can people expect from the new million-dollar 'A Christmas Carol?'

"A Christmas Carol" is capping the 60th anniversary season for the state's official theater, with performances continuing through Dec. 24.

Lyric is putting on the beloved Christmas story — 2023 marks 180 years since Dickens published the novella in December 1843 — on a vast new stage dominated by a three-sided turntable, or revolve, that allows the crew to switch scenes so quickly and smoothly that it seems to happen by magic. There's even a bridge built into it that characters can stroll across.

"It's a beautiful set ... and wait 'til you see the costumes, too," Marsh said. "I don't think anybody's seen anything quite like it."

Although he hopes the new production looks like a million bucks, Baron said Lyric didn't need to spend all of Devon's gift to create its new "Christmas Carol," even with hiring four new staffers in the process.

"There's four scene shop houses in America, and the quotes we had for them to build it was a half a million dollars. So, we said, instead of the money going out of town, out of the state, why don't we use it here and also ramp up our production department, which had shrunk because of COVID," Baron said.

"We were down to two production people, which is why we considered bidding it out. Then, once we heard how expensive it was anyway, we said, 'We can do it much cheaper here and also hire people full time.' They'll be with us for years to come. The rest of the money will be for their salaries as well upkeep and new cast members for the next 10 years."

How will Lyric Theatre's new indoor 'A Christmas Carol' borrow elements from the outdoor version?

During the 2020 holiday season, when so many events had to be canceled due to the pandemic, Lyric transported its beloved yuletide show outside to the Harn Homestead, performing an abbreviated 75-minute version of the play with two small rotating casts and limited attendees to allow for social distancing.

Guided by "audience hosts" costumed as Victorian-era lamplighters, audiences would follow the characters to various locales around the Harn Homestead, a living history museum of similar vintage to Dickens' tale, and watch the cast act out the various scenes on makeshift stages. The performers would sing vintage carols as they shepherded ticketholders across the grounds.

In deference to the lingering pandemic, Lyric staged "A Christmas Carol" outside for three seasons, with plans to eventually move back inside the Plaza Theatre.

The familiar favorite will return to Lyric's home venue with a full, larger company, including two rotating casts of child actors. Tiny Tim will be played again by a real boy, rather than the puppet used in the COVID-era production.

Since attendees are no longer spending the show outside and on their feet, the script also has been restored to its usual two-hour runtime, which includes an intermission.

"A lot of the stuff outside I feel we brought inside, meaning there's a lot more stuff (happening) in the aisles," Baron said. "The idea of lanterns and being surrounded by Dickensian people is more evident, and there's a couple more carols."

Lyric Theatre is flying again with its new indoor 'A Christmas Carol'

Perched on a swing high above the Plaza Theatre seats, Karsten Tate, who plays the Ghost of Christmas Past, waves her arms with enchanted intent as she recites Dickens' famed prose.

"As you're being lowered on (the line) 'Your reclamation, then,' you can then gesture," Baron directs the suspended actress.

"And I think for all of them, just point for what you want to happen ... because of the swing chains."

"OK, like this?" Tate asks, pointing with a graceful flourish.

"Yep, there you go," the director confirms. "Then, when you first come out ... give it one little swing to start moving this way."

Since Lyric debuted its "Carol" more than a dozen Christmases ago, the spectacle of the Ghost of Christmas Past flying high across the Plaza Theatre has been a fan-favorite moment.

That sort of staging wasn't possible when the show shifted outside. During the Harn Homestead years, performers portraying the Ghost of Christmas Past would scramble up ladders resting against the trunks of trees to approximate the sense of the phantom floating above the scenes conjured from Scrooge's childhood memories.

With the move back into the Plaza Theatre, getting the first visiting spirit off the ground has been a particular focus for the creative team and cast.

"We're getting there. ... It's very sweet. Christmas Past is a little more like a Mary Poppins as opposed to a Peter Pan. She's a little more sophisticated," Baron explains.

Not to give too much away, but Lyric's new production doubles up on the airborne enchantment compared to the previous indoor production.

That means Baron, his cast and crew spent much of the recent Friday night rehearsal hashing out timing and cues, heights and distances, speeds and safety concerns, all the details involved in sending actors soaring as if by wizardry up to the ceiling and across the theater.

With the first successful run, the performers, stagehands and technicians spontaneously burst into laughter, cheers and applause.

"That is magical," Baron declares with a grin.

LYRIC THEATRE'S 'A CHRISTMAS CAROL'

• When: Nov. 24-Dec. 24.

• Where: Plaza Theatre, 1727 NW 16. 

• Information: https://lyrictheatreokc.com.    

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Behind the scenes of $1 million 'A Christmas Carol' production in OKC