‘A Christmas Carol: A Ghost Story of Christmas’Through Dec. 29Olney Theatre Centre2001 Olney-Sandy Spring Road, Olney, MD$51-$86Olneytheatre.org In an unmistakably husky voice, Elizabeth Ashley once told me, “When asked to help a friend, you don’t dick around.” The ever-candid actor was referring to when she replaced an unwell Dixie Carter in the 2010 Shakespeare Theatre Company’s production of “Mrs.
Warren’s Profession.” Similarly, when celebrated local actor Michael Russotto was more recently asked to cover for colleague and friend Paul Morella in Olney Theatre Center’s unique version of Charles Dickens’s “A Christmas Carol: A Ghost Story of Christmas,” he didn’t hesitate.
When first asked to stand in for Morella (who experienced a health event earlier this fall that has prevented him from performing over the holiday season), Russotto knew this wasn’t just any part.
Faithfully conceived by Morella, this “A Christmas Carol” is a one-man show and a beloved Olney tradition, requiring the actor to portray more than 50 characters, ranging from miserly Scrooge to Tiny Tim. “Of course, my immediate instinct was to help out, but then the panic set in.