A New Christmas Story

Theatrical and musical performance inspired by the novel A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens.

Charles Dickens (1812-1870), recognized as the most outstanding representative of the English social and moral novel of the nineteenth century, gave in his work numerous proofs of enormous sensitivity to eternal human infirmity, social injustice and the harm of the poor. This keen observer, endowed with outstanding literary talent, deftly combined realistic, meticulous descriptions of people and environments with elements of humor and satire, as well as, here and there, with an atmosphere of fairy-tale lyricism. Thanks to this, he became a non-trivial chronicler of the life of London at that time, gained immense popularity and entered permanently into the canon of world literature.

“A Christmas Carol”, written in the Victorian style and first published in 1843 under the title A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas follows the transformation of Ebenezer Scrooge, a misanthrope, a misanthrope, and an exploiter, on Christmas Eve. He is a loner who hates people and cares only about multiplying his wealth. At night, he is visited by the ghost of his deceased accomplice, Jacob Marley, performing penance in the shackles of a chain of wines that he forged for himself during his lifetime. This sudden visit, designed to save Scrooge from a similar fate, leads to his moral renewal. Since 2017, “Christmas Story” has been compulsory reading in Poland for 7th grade primary school students.

Dickens's novel has repeatedly become the canvas for theatrical and film productions. Its content and message is also a source of inspiration for the creators of the musical performance entitled “The New Christmas Eve Story”, prepared at the Krakow Opera as part of the program of the Minister of Culture, National Heritage and Sport “Composer's Orders”, which is operated by the National Institute of Music and Dance. When preparing the script for the play, its author and director, Wojciech Graniczewski did not use translations of Dickens's text, but created new, original dialogues and song lyrics set in contemporary realities. The composer of the music for the performance is Andrzej Zarycki, an outstanding composer of theatrical and film music from Krakow, also known to a wide audience as the author of wonderful songs such as “Skrzypek Hercowicz” or “Na moście w Avignon” performed by Ewa Demarczyk and “Song o silzy”, with lyrics and performed by Jonasz Kofta. Each era, each age and each generation has its own distinctive features - specific forms of expression and communication, stylistics of artistic expression, fashion, technology and civilizational setting. And yet, as the history of civilization teaches, some features of human nature and our instinctive behaviors remain unchanged. These are primordial patterns of symbols, characters, events and patterns of action, deeply rooted in the human psyche called archetypes (from the Greek arche — beginning and typos — type). The psychoanalytic definition defines them as “structural elements of the collective unconscious that are common to all people in the world.”

Like Dickens's 19th-century work, our “New Christmas Eve Tale”, set in the 21st century in a corporate environment, asks us anew the age-old question: “to have or to be? It also recalls several universal truths of life: the meaning of human existence is not to acquire money or power, for life to have meaning, one must live it among people, feel their closeness and support, understand their problems and help them in need, because such an attitude brings happiness and good triumphs.

The tale of Charles Dickens belongs to the classics of world literature. The story of Scrooge, who became the symbol of the miser and the villain, takes place in the middle of the 19th century in London, but thanks to its timeless message, which is also the essence of the “New Christmas Eve tale” created on the stage of the Krakow Opera, it will never lose its relevance anywhere.

We refer to our musical tale of the magical events of Christmas Eve as a “family spectacle”, addressed to viewers from 12 to 112 years old.

Co-financed from the funds of the Minister of Culture and National Heritage from the Culture Promotion Fund — a state special purpose fund, as part of the program “Composer Orders”, implemented by the National Institute of Music and Dance