Directed by Christopher Gable and choreographed by Massimo Moricone, Northern Ballet’s A Christmas Carol was a hit when it premiered in 1992, but has been presented only sporadically since then. Now it’s back, 11 years after its last outing, though this time without a live orchestra (the company’s Sinfonia has been cut). Does it still work, four decades on?
Well yes – but allow me a quick Scrooge moment, if you will. A Christmas Carol is a snow-globe, Victoriana vision of a world reassuringly sealed from our present and our future; that is why it works, and perhaps why we need it now.
