Regional NewsCast Set for Dolly Parton’s Smoky Mountain Christmas Carol, Featuring Score by Grammy Winner PartonCharles Dickens’ Christmas ghost story is reset in the Great Smoky Mountains in the new stage musical.
By
Andrew Gans
October 17, 2019
Casting has been announced for Dolly Parton’s Smoky Mountain Christmas Carol, a new stage musical from the Grammy-winning country star and Tony-nominated writer of 9 to 5 The Musical that will play a world-premiere engagement at Boston’s Emerson Colonial Theatre.
Set to run December 3–29, the musical, as previously announced, features an original score by eight-time Grammy winner Parton and a book by David H. Bell.
Dolly Parton’s Smoky Mountain Christmas Carol will be directed by Curt Wollan, who adapted the original story with Bell and producer Paul T. Couch.
The cast will feature Pete Colburn as Ebenezer Scrooge, Billy Butler as Bob Cratchit and Jacob Marley, Jonathan Acorn as Eben and Fred, Brittney Santoro as Fanny and Sadie, Brian Hull as Fezziwig and Ghost of Christmas Present, Mary Tanner as Ghost of Christmas Past and Mrs. Dilber, Julia Getz as Mrs. Cratchit and Mrs. Fezziwig, Ray O’Hare as Mudge and Wyatt, and Josh Bryan as Dick with Ian Shain, Tader Shipley, Billy Butler, Jonathan Acorn, Brittney Santoro, Julia Getz, Ray O’Hare, Josh Bryan, and Ian Shain.
Dickens’ London-set ghost story is reset in the Great Smoky Mountains of Eastern Tennessee at the height of the Great Depression, where Ebenezer Scrooge is recast as the callous owner of a mining company town. A concert production of the musical was staged at the Ordway Theatre in St. Paul, Minnesota, last November.
The Fred Ebb Award recognizes excellence in musical theatre songwriting, by a songwriter or songwriting team that has not yet achieved significant commercial success.