Seasons Greetings friends!
In lieu of our usual Christmas debauch and super-spreader event,
we would like to present this special version of our Xmas puppet show.
Since 1989, this handmade show has been performed annually for guests
at a spirited house party, complete with screaming children, tipsy actors,
faulty cassette players and sputtering lights.

Rubbing elbows with fellow partygoers slipping around on spilled booze
is something in short supply these days, so this year,
we hope you enjoy this offering, served up with holiday cheer
from our house to yours.

For version 2020, performers recorded their parts separately at home
and sent them in for Larry to edit. Larry, Beck and Jack
performed the puppets and filmed this version
in their NYC apartment on December 12.

~

a bit of history

A Christmas Carol was first read by Charles Dickens on Christmas Eve
at a performance benefitting a mechanic's institute.
His ghostly tale held the audience of farmers’ daughters and sons, parsons and shopkeepers,
spellbound that night and has continued to do so for audiences of all ages ever since.

Our puppet version originated in 1989 with a performance
for a small group of friends at an annual Christmas party.
In 1991, the show went public at a benefit for the Children's Museum of the Arts in Soho,
at the Public Theater in Manhattan, Peter’s Ice Cream Parlor in Brooklyn, at the Hudson River Museum,
and a library in Stowe, Vermont.
But more significantly, we have performed it every year at our party except once
when our building was recovering from a fire.

Each year the puppet cast has grown: now there are 14 characters.
Likewise, backdrops and set pieces have been added, making each year a unique production.
One year we had ghostly projections by filmmaker Bill Morrison…

The show has outgrown the apartment and is now performed outside in the hallway of our floor
(and simul-cast in the living room for the spill-over crowd.)

The audience has grown up too: Owen Campbell first saw the show as a toddler;
now is one of the players (when he is available)! 

Thanks to all of you who have joined us over the years, we hope to see you in person next time.
And to new visitors, please understand this all makes more sense
live and after a bottle of “Christmas Punch”.

Enjoy
xo L, B & J

The Players

​Larry Fessenden (Ebenezer Scrooge, Young Scrooge)

Bob McGrath (Gentleman #2, Marley’s Ghost, Old Joe)

Don Campbell (Gentleman #1, Second Ghost, Fezziwig)

Laurie Olinder (First Ghost, Isabelle, Mrs. Cratchitr, Charwoman)

Owen Campbell (Bob Cratchit, Boy, Tiny Tim)

Beck Underwood​ (meow)

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The Script
an adaptation by Larry Fessenden
based on “A Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens
and various other iterations of that work,
with special appreciation to Albert Finney and the 1970 musical

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Stage Management 

Puppet design and construction - Beck Underwood & Larry Fessenden

Ghost of Christmas Present puppet by Maro Chermayeff

Backdrops - Laurie Olinder

Props & Costumes - Underwood/Fessenden

Natty Knitwear - Elizabeth Evers

Lighting and Sound - Fessenden

Roadie and Tech - Mark Napoletano

Stage Design & Construction - Bruce Agte

~

Film Production 2020 

PUPPETEERS: Larry Fessenden, Beck Underwood, Jack Fessenden
CAMERA: Jack Fessenden
SOUND & PICTURE EDIT: Larry Fessenden

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Music 

Royal College of Music Choir
Michael Nyman
Sergei Prokoviev
Modern Jazz Quartet
Jeff Grace
Graham Resnick
Randy Travis
Sounds from “Scrooge” (1970) by Ronald Neame