How Dickens' Message Applies Today: Scrooge, Tiny Tim and the Arrogance of Wealth

cipating as a lecturer in a landmark event focused on fundraising for the poor, he was deeply touched by the plights of the destitute people he interacted with during the three-day event.

So Dickens abandoned his proselytizing plan, and instead, started working on a novella designed to speak directly to the heart. In a timeline that would make a modern day cyber author proud, he finished A Christmas Carol in just six weeks, and saw it published in time for Christmas. It was an instant success, and just a few weeks later three adaptations for the stage had already opened.

Veteran actor-singer Chris Van Cleave has portrayed both Jacob Marley and Ebenezer Scrooge in multiple productions of A Christmas Carol. His full and diverse background includes other major roles in U.S.A. and U.K. national tours, as Jesus in Jesus Christ Superstar and as Claude in Hair, as well as playing leading roles in London West End productions of Les Miserables and Chess.

Van Cleave has been Loretta Swit's (M.A.S.H.) leading man in stage productions of both The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas and Mame at the Forestburgh Playhouse, the oldest continuously operating professional summer theatre in New York State.

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