My teenage granddaughter and I had a lovely time at the familiar yet fresh holiday morality play, Dickens' Christmas Carol, on Saturday afternoon, Dec. 9. Easy ticket purchase online, easy parking in ramp across the street, sparkling setting overlooking Mississippi River in downtown Minneapolis, sparkling sets and a excellent, balanced cast. Christmas carols interspersed throughout are sweetly sung.. Having 13year old reflect on Scrooge's "Are there no workhouses for poor, no prisons?" on the drive home was a bonus. Thanks, Dickens. Thanks, Guthrie. God bless us, everyone.

I still recommend going to see A Christmas Carol in 2017, but it is not as good as it has been in year's past. Scenes that were very entertaining have been removed. My favorite characters are no longer there and/or are different actors therefore have lost the fun nature of the characters. The grand finale ending was shortened and left me feeling flat as I left instead of the Grand Happy feeling that I have always felt in years before.

Love the Guthrie. Yet I hope somebody can tell me that Scrooge was feverish and barely able to make it out of bed the night of December 18, 2015. Could not hear the man. Then strained to hear the little I could. I heard people whispering around me that they couldn't hear him. And we had good seats. I'm a forgiving theatre goer but if I'm at the Guthrie and can't hear the lead..... I want my money back.

The Guthrie production of A Christmas Carol had always been an exceptional treat visually, with an old Victorian feel. The newer sets are so spare that it looks as if someone just sawed the outline of a city - completely lost the feeling of 18th Century London. We also missed dramatic touches, such as the Ghost of Christmas Present flying over the audience. No one goes all of the way downtown, and pays for multiple seats for the family to see a sparse “modern” set and production. Love you Guthrie, but please bring back the original.