"Christmas Carol: The Remix" Combines Charles Dickens and Hip-Hop in St. Louis
Our Daily Show Interview! St. Louis Shakespeare Festival: Christmas Carol Remix on Now!
SAINT LOUIS - “Christmas Carol: The Remix” tells the classic Charles Dickens story with a hip-hop twist.
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The St. Louis Shakespeare Festival will be sponsoring the show until Dec. 22, 2024, at the .ZACK Theater in St. Louis. Tom Ridgley with the St. Louis Shakespeare Festival explained that this show is a contemporary retelling of “A Christmas Carol,” refreshed so that the setting and characters have a more modern feel.
“It feels like St. Louis in 2024,” Ridgley said. “It’s just brilliant because it’s so fresh and funny but it also is the story of ‘A Christmas Carol,’ which is just so moving and uplifting and never gets old because we’re always hoping that there’s a chance we can start again and do things over.”
“Christmas Carol: The Remix” tells the story of Ebenezer Scrooge and the three ghosts of Hip-Hop Past, Present and Future. Ridgley said it’s “identical” to the classic Charles Dickens story, complete with a heartwarming message about second chances.
He thanked the Q Brothers, a creative collective that adapts Shakespeare and Dickens stories into hip-hop musicals, and noted that “Christmas Carol: The Remix” is their “smartest, best adaptation” yet. He said that audiences have responded strongly to the show since it opened at the .ZACK Theater on Nov. 26, 2024.
“The people are walking out just grinning ear to ear, just smiling and laughing the whole time,” Ridgley said. “The thing is like getting shot out of a cannon. These four actors, dancers, singers, they just start and it doesn’t stop for 85 minutes. It’s just rhyme after rhyme after rhyme after joke…It’s just a beautiful, beautiful story, so people are surprised more than anything, like, ‘Wow, that was something we’ve never seen before.’”
Directed and choreographed by Steph Paul, the show stars Ryan Armstrong as Scrooge. Armstrong is a native St. Louisian who previously performed “Christmas Carol: The Remix” in Chicago. He shares the stage with local actors Vic Musoni, Mo Shipley, Maya Vinice Prentiss and Mel Bady.
“Christmas Carol: The Remix” is a one-act show that runs for 85 minutes, and Ridgley encourages people to “make a night of it.” He noted that the .ZACK Theater is attached to Turn by David Kirkland, a well-known St. Louis restaurant where audience members can enjoy a meal or drink from the special holiday menu before or after the show.
Ridgley believes it’s a great opportunity to enjoy a night of theater and get into the Christmas spirit. The production allows audience members to take in the message of “A Christmas Carol” while spending time with their loved ones.
“That’s what it’s really about, just a chance to get together this time of year with folks you haven’t seen in a while,” he said. “Do something fun, fresh, new, exciting.”
As an organization, the St. Louis Shakespeare Festival puts on several productions every year, including their famous Shakespeare in the Park performances in the summer. Ridgley noted that there are a lot of theater opportunities throughout St. Louis, and he is proud that the St. Louis Shakespeare Festival is a part of this artistic scene.
“St. Louis is a theater town,” he added. “There’s culture, there's history that is tough to beat. We’ve been able to try all sorts of just wild new things.”
He hopes to see many people at their production of “Christmas Carol: The Remix,” which runs through Dec. 22, 2024, at the .ZACK Theater. Tickets start at $35. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit the official St. Louis Shakespeare Festival website at STLShakes.org.
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