From: grazier@ess.ucla.edu (Kevin R. Grazier)
Subject: More on Patrick Stewart's "Christmas Carol."
Followup-To: rec.arts.startrek.misc
Reply-To: grazier@ess.ucla.edu
Organization: Vulcan Science Academy, Tau Ceti Sector
Date: Sun, 13 Dec 1992 23:53:06 GMT


[Note - sorry for the delay - we just finished a software release.  But rumor
	has it LA was sold out by the time I received this anyways - ed.]

An earlier article mentioned Patrick Stewart's one-man performance
of "A Christmas Carol" at the Broadhurst Theatre in New York
(for ticket info, call (212) 239-6200).

For those in the LA area, he will also be performing two shows
in Pasadeda at the Beckman Auditorium on the campus of Caltech
on December 12th and 13th.  For ticket info call 1-800 423-8849 or
(818) 356-4652.


Here at UCLA students got an extra special treat last Saturday, as Mr.
Stewart performed his "Chrismas Carol" on campus in MacGowan Hall's 
Freud Auditorium.  WOW!!!  SEE IT!!!  When the Creator was handing
out talent, I think this man stood in line for thirds!

The theatre is relatively small -- this lent an intimate feel to
the performance.  In fact, after the performance Mr. Stewart 
took a 5 minute break to change and then came back to answer 
questions, along with Professor Hutter (a UCLA prof who is a
Dickens scholar and who helped adapt the story).  The question
and answer session lasted for about twenty minutes. 

Mr. Stewart admitted that he did the UCLA performance for somewhat 
selfish means, as he wanted a "dry run" (my words, not his) before 
his Pasadena and, subsequently, Broadhurst performances.

He also told a brief story on how he chose to do "Christmas Carol."
On morning he was waiting for a shoot and was bored.  The shoot was
delayed, so he went to a book shelf and picked up the thinnest book
he could find, which was "Christmas Carol."  Having thought "oh, I
already know ALL ABOUT this story," he was shocked to find several
brilliant bits in the story that he had never seen in any of the
adaptations.  Some of these make their way into his performance,
while some "famous" bits are dropped ("...a blot of mustard, a bit
of an underdone potato...").  He was so moved by the story, and its
pertinence at this point in his life (which he did not expound upon),
that he instantly started on an adaptation.  In fact, he said that
he would go so far as to make appointments with himself to work on
the adaptations.  His schedule would read: "Saturday, 10:00 a.m.,
Mr. Stewart."  He also mentioned that his adaptation changes each
year (and sometimes from show to show).

Since the vast majority of the audience (sans myself and my date) were
theatre students, all the questions were geared towards acting, Dickens, 
how they adapted the work for his performance, and how he got into the
various characters.  In fact, he mentioned "his series" only once or twice 
and I got the impression that had anybody mentioned the "ST:TNG word,"
they would have been boo'd out of the place.

In summary, a HECK of an experience!



Kevin R. Grazier
grazier@zephyr.ess.ucla.edu
Department of Earth & Space Sciences
University of California Los Angeles

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