An alternative Christmas Carol

It’s difficult to find someone who has never seen or read A Christmas Carol. After all, Charles Dickens’ classic is the quintessential holiday story of a miser who finds redemption when forced to face the misdeeds of his life.

At this time of year, many variations pop out of the woodwork. At the top of the list is the hippest version of all: Brass Monkey Productions’ The Christmas Carol Project playing at TransAlta Arts Barns on Dec. 28 and 29.

Blending classic literature and contemporary music, the concert features an extremely talented cast of Juno-nominated, Edmonton-based musicians who have created a collection of songs composed from the perspective of each character.

Although the project carries the story arc of Scrooge, creator John Armstrong explains the main thrust is to showcase the diverse talents of Edmonton’s music scene.

“The singers don’t sing the exact words from the story and the songs are somewhat interpretable.”

Armstrong, a graduate from the MacEwan College arts administration program, had worked with a variety of musicians from different genres – Big Miller, Sue Moss, Jensen Interceptor, and Jim Gray of Darkroom, one of the biggest ’80s rock bands in Edmonton.

In the mid-nineties the Alistair Sim variant on Scrooge dominated the screen.

“I thought it would be cool to take musicians, singers and songwriters and put them on stage representing their genres and writing their own songs.”

By 1996, he’d recruited the first batch of artists. Each artist took on the role of a character and wrote original tunes for their namesake. The helter-skelter troupe met, jammed and shared the songs that would become The Christmas Carol Project.

“Amazingly enough it came together easily and it opened at Catalyst Theatre. The biggest challenge was the -40 degree temperatures.”

Despite the climate, the show was a sold-out success. In succeeding years, it changed venues several times, received a TV deal with Bravo and started touring.

Armstrong has written the synopsis narrated by Dave Clarke and the singer/songwriters fill the program with 23 songs.

The godfather of Edmonton’s folk scene Bill Bourne, takes on the role of Scrooge, while pop/folk artist Bill Brant is the Ghost of Christmas Present.

Roots/blues artist Kevin Cook toughs it out as the Ghost of Marley, while folk/Celtic singer Maria Dunn is garbed as Tiny Tim.

Bill Hobson is the group’s sensitive drummer and Chapman stick player Dale Ladouceur is the Ghost of Christmas Future. Terry Morrison’s jazzy/folk sound represents the Ghost of Christmas Past and blues/rockabilly singer/songwriter Tom Roschov wears the mantle of Bob Cratchit.

Anyone tired of traditional seasonal music will still find the spirit of Christmas in this more avant-garde collection of alternatives.

“We just have different songs with a Dickensian message that we would like to share with everyone.”