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Sending up Scrooge

Broadway chestnuts mined for Dickens’ classic parody

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‘A Broadway Christmas Carol’
Through Dec. 18
MetroStage
1201 North Royal Street, Alexandria
$45-$50
800-494-8497
metrostage.org

MetroStage’s annual Christmas production is becoming a regional tradition. (Photo by C. Stanley Photos; courtesy MetroStage)

You don’t have to be a hardcore show tune fan to enjoy “A Broadway Christmas Carol” but it certainly helps.

Created by Kathy Feininger, MetroStage’s holiday musical offering employs melodies from scads of hit scores including “Les Misérables,” “Damn Yankees,” “The Phantom of the Opera,” “Cabaret” and more (all with cleverly adapted lyrics) to tell Charles Dickens’ holiday classic in a fast-paced, comic style. Performed by a fabulously talented trio, it’s an amusing, toe-tapping good time.

So don’t expect to experience a fully realized Ebenezer Scrooge transformational journey. You won’t. This is less heartwarming old chestnut and more of a campy romp (for those old enough to remember think the “Carol Burnett Show’s” send up of Hollywood’s golden era). Here, penny-pinching Scrooge (played by talented gay actor Michael Sharp who also directs and choreographs) sings, mugs and dances his way from miserable miser to grateful geezer.

Still the essential plot points are met and each of the tale’s many familiar characters make an appearance but not necessarily as you might remember them. Jacob Marley’s ghost inexplicably shows up as a buxom, gum-cracking Mae West and the ghost of Christmas present is in fact a prettily wrapped present who orders Scrooge to touch her box. And those allegorical twins — Want and Ignorance — are represented as a pair of hand puppets á la “Avenue Q,” always ready to blaringly appeal to Scrooge’s more sensitive side.

As “the Woman Who Isn’t Scrooge,” terrific Tracey Stephens makes rapid fire costume and character changes to play every female role in the musical including a hilariously love-starved do-gooder, Scrooge’s myopic first love Belle, as well as his late sister, a dimpled and tap-dancing Baby Fan. Equally good is Matthew A. Anderson as “the Man Who Isn’t Scrooge.” He’s especially funny as an understandably sulky Bob Cratchit and a spoiled rotten Tiny Tim whose demented number based on a song from “Annie” — “(I’m Going to Walk) Tomorrow” — is well worth the price of admission. Sharp, Stephens and Anderson are all terrific comic actors.

The parodied show tunes are nonstop, well done and numerous at about 30 ranging from “I’m In the Money” to “Bob’s Once a Year Day” to “It Sucks to Be Thee.” Though Feininger hasn’t spoofed too much from contemporary shows, she has mined several decades of Broadway gold. For those who know and like musical theater, the many tuneful takeoffs and innumerable inside jokes are especially fun.

Allison Campbell’s festive set — a little stage upon a stage framed by red and green bulbs and topped with an enormous plaid bow — charmingly invokes both Christmas and vaudeville. Off to the side sits a baby grand piano, where music director Elisa Rosman accompanies with a lot of skill and some humor.

Now in its second year at MetroStage (located on the northern tip of Old Town Alexandria), “A Broadway Christmas Carol” is emerging as somewhat of a holiday tradition for the company.

At a recent performance, the couple seated to my left described the show as their “auxiliary” annual visit with Mr. Humbug. In addition to the straight play version they attend every December, they’re now making time for the musical too.

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Books

A boy-meets-boy, family-mess story with heat

New book offers a stunning, satisfying love story

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(Book cover image courtesy of Random House)

‘When the Harvest Comes’
By Denne Michele Norris
c.2025, Random House
$28/304 pages

Happy is the bride the sun shines on.

Of all the clichés that exist about weddings, that’s the one that seems to make you smile the most. Just invoking good weather and bright sunshine feels like a cosmic blessing on the newlyweds and their future. It’s a happy omen for bride and groom or, as in the new book “When the Harvest Comes” by Denne Michele Norris, for groom and groom.

Davis Freeman never thought he could love or be loved like this.

He was wildly, wholeheartedly, mind-and-soul smitten with Everett Caldwell, and life was everything that Davis ever wanted. He was a successful symphony musician in New York. They had an apartment they enjoyed and friends they cherished. Now it was their wedding day, a day Davis had planned with the man he adored, the details almost down to the stitches in their attire. He’d even purchased a gorgeous wedding gown that he’d never risk wearing.

He knew that Everett’s family loved him a lot, but Davis didn’t dare tickle the fates with a white dress on their big day. Everett’s dad, just like Davis’s own father, had considerable reservations about his son marrying another man – although Everett’s father seemed to have come to terms with his son’s bisexuality. Davis’s father, whom Davis called the Reverend, never would. Years ago, father and son had a falling-out that destroyed any chance of peace between Davis and his dad; in fact, the door slammed shut to any reconciliation.

But Davis tried not to think about that. Not on his wedding day. Not, unbeknownst to him, as the Reverend was rushing toward the wedding venue, uninvited but not unrepentant. Not when there was an accident and the Reverend was killed, miles away and during the nuptials.

Davis didn’t know that, of course, as he was marrying the love of his life. Neither did Everett, who had familial problems of his own, including homophobic family members who tried (but failed) to pretend otherwise.

Happy is the groom the sun shines on. But when the storm comes, it can be impossible to remain sunny.

What can be said about “When the Harvest Comes?” It’s a romance with a bit of ghost-pepper-like heat that’s not there for the mere sake of titillation. It’s filled with drama, intrigue, hate, characters you want to just slap, and some in bad need of a hug.

In short, this book is quite stunning.

Author Denne Michele Norris offers a love story that’s everything you want in this genre, including partners you genuinely want to get to know, in situations that are real. This is done by putting readers inside the characters’ minds, letting Davis and Everett themselves explain why they acted as they did, mistakes and all. Don’t be surprised if you have to read the last few pages twice to best enjoy how things end. You won’t be sorry.

If you want a complicated, boy-meets-boy, family-mess kind of book with occasional heat, “When the Harvest Comes” is your book. Truly, this novel shines.

The Blade may receive commissions from qualifying purchases made via this post.

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Photos

PHOTOS: Victory Fund National Champagne Brunch

LGBTQ politicians gather for annual event

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Rep. Sarah McBride (D-Del.) speaks at the 2025 Victory Fund National Champagne Brunch. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

The Victory Fund held its National Champagne Brunch at the Ritz-Carlton on Sunday, April 27. Speakers included Tim Gunn, Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Gov. Wes Moore (D-Md.), Rep. Sarah McBride (D-Del.), Rep. Chris Pappas (D-N.H.) and Rep. Mark Takano (D-Calif.).

(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)

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Music & Concerts

Tom Goss returns with ‘Bear Friends Furever Tour’

Out singer/songwriter to perform at Red Bear Brewing Co.

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Singer Tom Goss is back. (Photo by Dusti Cunningham)

Singer Tom Goss will bring his “Bear Friends Furever Tour” to D.C. on Sunday, June 8 at 8 p.m. at Red Bear Brewing Co. 

Among the songs he will perform will be “Bear Soup,” the fourth installment in his beloved bear song anthology series. Following fan favorites like “Bears,” “Round in All the Right Places,” and “Nerdy Bear,” this high-energy, bass-thumping banger celebrates body positivity, joyful indulgence, and the vibrant spirit of the bear subculture.

For more details, visit Tom Goss’s website.

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