By: Mary Genson | Birmingham-Bloomfield Eagle | Published November 25, 2025
BIRMINGHAM — Every holiday season, it is a family tradition for Birmingham Village Players member Joe Vercellone to watch Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol.” This year, Vercellone and his son Phillip adapted the show into a one-man play to be performed as a fundraiser for the Birmingham Village Players.
The world premiere of the adaptation —“An Evening with Charles Dickens and A Christmas Carol” — will run Dec. 4-7 at Birmingham Village Players. All of the proceeds will go to the fundraising efforts for future building improvements at Birmingham Village Players.
“There are other theaters that do ‘Christmas Carol’ but with a full cast,” Vercellone said. “We wanted to approach it in a way that would be interesting to the community and that would be something unique and exciting for them to come and see.”
Actor Edmond Guay will be taking on the challenge for performing in the one-man show — his first time taking on such a role.
Guay has been involved with the Birmingham Village Players since around 2006. He is a retired teacher of theater and English. After 42 years of teaching, he said, “I finally get to put my money where my mouth is and, hopefully, show what I taught myself as well as I taught my students. So, this is such an incredibly awesome, challenging opportunity.”
Being in this role, Guay has had the opportunity to receive input from the objective eye of a director. “I’m enjoying getting notes from a director, as opposed to being a director and a teacher giving notes.”
The redemption of Scrooge in the story is one of Vercellone’s favorite parts. He said, “I think it’s such an uplifting story, and it’s great to see Ed show that change in character throughout this production.”
Adapting a one-man show
The concept of Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” being performed as a one-man show is historically accurate and references the way in which Dickens would tour his books by reading and acting them out.
“Charles Dickens actually did come to the United States in the 1860s to read ‘A Christmas Carol.’ So that’s where we are placing our one-man show at that time period,” Vercellone said.
Fans of the book will be pleased to know that the Birmingham Village Players show’s entire script is directly from the book. Though nothing has been added, some things had to be removed for length.
“Stories are written to be read, and it’s very different to write a story for reading than to write a story for performing. … You really have to go through and say, ‘what are the core elements of this story from page to page, and what can be removed without losing the beauty and the import of what he wanted to say?’” Vercellone said.
See the show
“An Evening with Charles Dickens and A Christmas Carol” will be performed at the Birmingham Village Players 7:30 p.m. Dec. 4-6 and at 2 p.m. Dec. 7.
Individual reserved tickets cost $30, which includes a ticketing fee. To purchase tickets, call the box office at (248) 644-2075 or place an order at birminghamvillageplayers.com.