During the 26-day 1997 holiday-season run of its version of A Christmas Carol, the Alley Theatre grossed $668,766, the most ever in the nine-year history of the seasonal favorite. Performed to capacity crowds on its main, thrust stage, which seats 824, the production played to some 10,000 schoolchildren. Altogether, 34,000 kids at heart attended.
Adapted and directed by Alley Associate Director Michael Wilson, A Christmas Carol, A Ghost Story of Christmas has been seen by more than a quarter of a million people over the years. Apparently, the only thing Houstonians go 'Bah, humbug' about is that this Dickens of a show must end.
-- By Peter Szatmary
Texas Correspondent