I said before that it takes something really distinctive to make me consider seeing one of the many stage versions of
A Christmas Carol out there at the moment: A couple of weeks ago the attraction was
a comedy version that largely ignored everything about the actual story; for my last show before Christmas itself, I would have thought the title
Dolly Parton's Smoky Mountain Christmas Carol probably tells you all you need to know. Parton (music and lyrics) and David H. Bell's (book) musical version of the Charles Dickens story started life as a Dollywood attraction before being expanded into a full-length show, and Alison Pollard's production now gets its UK premiere at the South Bank Centre. They've moved the story from Victorian London to 1930s Tennessee and added Parton's distinctive country music sound, but it ends up a surprisingly faithful adaptation both in plot and intention.
