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Charles Dickens’s classic tale receives another musical treatment in this Broadway production, a rare collaboration between Alan Menken, composer of Little Shop of Horrors as well as several of the films behind Disney’s late-1980s revival (including The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast), and Lynn Ahrens, Stephen Flaherty’s lyricist for such hits as Ragtime and Once on this Island. If you’ve already heard a song from this score, it’s probably “A Place Called Home,” and rightly so–it’s a warm, beautiful ballad. But there are other good, catchy songs here, including “The Lights of Long Ago” and the peppy “Mr. Fezziwig’s Annual Christmas Ball” (which is so Menken it almost conjures visions of dancing kitchenware). As Scrooge, Walter Charles leads the ensemble cast, which includes Robert Westenberg and Emily Skinner. And of course only the hardest heart could fail to be touched by this story. Full lyrics are included. –David Horiuchi

A Christmas Carol