For Evanston’s Brad Armacost, the world is sharply divided between good and evil, Santa and Satan. He’s probably the only person in town whose career has him contending demonic possession by night and immersed in the redemptive, joyful spirit of Christianity’s biggest observance by day. So it goes when you’re a leading player in Fox television’s “The Exorcist” and Drury Lane’s “A Christmas Carol.”
Opening Nov. 16, “A Christmas Carol” stars Armacost as Ebenezer Scrooge in Drury Lane’s annual Theatre for Young Audiences production. On “Exorcist,” Armacost plays Bishop Egan, busy battling an infestation of demons in Chicago. It’s Armacost’s third year as Scrooge at Drury Lane, but the first time he’s had to balance Charles Dickens’ Christmas classic with a gig that involves going toe-to-cloven-hoof with Christmas’s biggest hater.
Then again, Scrooge is hardly a fan of Christmas himself, at least not at the onset of Dickens’ beloved ghost story. “He goes home at the end of the day and the only thing that he can feel or think about is that he’s one day richer. He’s completely closed off from compassion and humanity,” says Armacost. “If the most important thing in your life is a ledger, that’s just sad.”
Armacost is no stranger to Dickens’ story of a miser who finds redemption after being shown the folly of his ways by a ghostly Christmas Eve visitation. He played Scrooge for three years at Chicago’s Provision Theatre, and did several stints at the Goodman as Scrooge’s much-abused assistant, Bob Cratchit. At Drury Lane, thousands of children have seen Armacost’s Scrooge over the years. As a production aimed at young audiences, the show regularly sells out the 971-seat auditorium to busloads of school groups.
“Looking out at all those kids sitting on the edge of their seats, that never gets old,” says Armacost. “Maybe some of the younger ones won’t leave with a thorough grasp of the language or Dickens’ place in literature, but they get the story.”
Director Scott Calcagno is also a “Christmas Carol” veteran. This is his seventh year helming the production at Drury Lane, an anniversary that also figures prominently in the story. When Marley manifests in Scrooge’s bedchamber on Christmas Eve, it’s on the seventh anniversary of the shackled ghost’s death.
“When he shows up, the emotional stakes rise,” Calcagno says. “Sometimes it takes something a little scary to teach us what we need to know.”
It takes four ghosts to teach Scrooge what he needs to know: Marley is famously followed by the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future. While the novel has them all visiting over the course of a night, Drury Lane gets the job done in slightly over an hour. The abridgment, stress Armacost and Calcagno, doesn’t mean there are any shortcuts in the story’s emotional truths.
“This is a story that speaks to people no matter where they are in their lives,” says Calcagno. “It tells us that it’s never too late to change, to become more caring, more giving. Above all, it teaches us that while we’re here, time is precious.”
‘A Christmas Carol’
When: Nov. 16-Dec. 23
Where: Drury Lane Theatre for Young Audiences, 100 Drury Lane, Oakbrook Terrace
Tickets: $15
Information: 630-530-0111; Drurylanetheatre.com
