Island Stage Left presents A Christmas Carol

Contributed photo

Island Stage Left shares news about the sec­ond pro­duc­tion in their hol­i­day series.

The most delight­ful­ly cold-heart­ed, cyn­i­cal, greedy, mean old man in Eng­lish lit­er­a­ture gets his come­up­pance in Fri­day Har­bor on Dec. 23 and 24, when Island Stage Left presents Broad­way actor Allen Fitzpatrick’s one-man ver­sion of A Christ­mas Car­ol at 3 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. each day, weath­er permitting.

Fitz­patrick plays Ebenez­er Scrooge — “hard and sharp as flint, secret and self-con­tained, and soli­tary as an oys­ter” — plus 25 oth­er char­ac­ters in this vir­tu­oso adap­ta­tion of the Charles Dick­ens clas­sic. Fitz­patrick mod­eled his show on the dra­mat­ic read­ings Dick­ens him­self per­formed. The inti­ma­cy of a one-man show gives a spe­cial per­son­al flair to the sto­ry of a wicked man brought to his knees by a series of painful­ly hon­est ghosts, one of them in the form of a door-knocker.

Fitz­patrick is a sea­soned Broad­way actor who has worked with stars of the pro­fes­sion rang­ing from Stephen Sond­heim and Andrew Lloyd Web­ber to Vanes­sa Red­grave and Pat­ti Lupone. He main­tains a close con­nec­tion to the Pacif­ic North­west, hav­ing appeared many times at the 5th Avenue The­atre, ACT, Seat­tle Rep, the Inti­man The­atre and at Benaroya Hall with the Seat­tle Symphony.

Seat­ing for A Christ­mas Car­ol is lim­it­ed, and though a few no-shows may mean seats will be avail­able at the door, Island Stage Left can’t guar­an­tee a place to those who come with­out reservations.

The first three shows are ful­ly booked, but a few seats remain for the 6:30 p.m. show on Dec. 24. To make a reser­va­tion, email stageleft@centurytel.net.

Admis­sion is free, but dona­tions are grate­ful­ly accept­ed. Masks are strong­ly encour­aged. Per­for­mances take place in the Marie Boe Build­ing, at the San Juan Coun­ty Fair­grounds — 849 Argyle Ave.

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