A Christmas Carol (2004 film)
| A Christmas Carol: The Musical | |
|---|---|
DVD cover
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| Based on |
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens |
| Written by |
Mike Ockrent Lynn Ahrens |
| Directed by | Arthur Allan Seidelman |
| Starring |
Kelsey Grammer Jesse L. Martin Jane Krakowski Jennifer Love Hewitt Geraldine Chaplin Jason Alexander |
| Music by | Alan Menken |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language(s) | English |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) |
Camille Grammer Robert Halmi Sr. Robert Halmi Jr. |
| Producer(s) |
Howard Ellis Steven North |
| Cinematography | Hanania Baer |
| Editor(s) | Bert Glatstein |
| Running time | 97 minutes |
| Production company(s) | Hallmark Entertainment |
| Distributor | NBC |
| Budget | $17 million |
| Release | |
| Original network | NBC |
| Original release | November 28, 2004 |
A Christmas Carol: The Musical is a 2004 American made-for-television film adaptation of the 1994 stage musical of the same name, with songs written by Alan Menken (music) and Lynn Ahrens (lyrics). The musical is based on Charles Dickens' famous 1843 novella of the same name, produced by Hallmark Entertainment for NBC.
It was directed by Arthur Allan Seidelman and features Kelsey Grammer as Ebenezer Scrooge, Jason Alexander as Jacob Marley, Jesse L. Martin as the Ghost of Christmas Present, and Jennifer Love Hewitt as Emily. The film was broadcast November 28, 2004 on NBC.
The film opens at the London Exchange on Christmas Eve in 1843 where everybody is looking forward to Christmas Day, except for the grouchy and greedy miser Ebenezer Scrooge. Scrooge, who hates Christmas, shows his cold attitude to others by refusing to show mercy to a father and his daughter who are in debt, supporting the prisons and workhouses for the poor and refusing to dine with his nephew Fred. That night though, as Scrooge dines alone before going to bed, the ghost of his seven-year dead partner Jacob Marley appears. He tells Scrooge to repent or suffer the same as him by wearing a chain like Marley wears: the one he forged from his own greed. Other ghosts who also wear chains also haunt Scrooge, implying they were all selfish and cold-hearted when they were alive. Marley tells Scrooge he will be haunted by three spirits and that the first will call at one o'clock.
The first of the three spirits, the Ghost of Christmas Past, arrives after the bell chimes One. The scene then changes to Scrooge's father who is sent to prison for not paying debts. He tells his son, a young Ebenezer, to make his fortune and keep it. Scrooge and his sister Fan as a result are separated and forced to go their own ways after their mother dies. Scrooge is then shown working at a boot factory as a boy before working for Fezziwig. The young Scrooge and Marley who also worked under Fezziwig set up their own business and begin their money-lending career. However, Scrooge and Marley refuse to lend a loan to Fezziwig, whose business had gone bust and who presumably dies in poverty with his wife. Knowing Scrooge is a changed man, Scrooge's fiancée Emily breaks her engagement with him. Years later, an older Jacob Marley dies seven years before the events of the film.
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