This is an act of almost pure hubris on my part. A Christmas Carol is a timeless work of genius. It's infinite flexibility and resilience is apparent in every adaptation, good, bad or indifferent (I remember vividly the year it became public domain when I was a child; there was a different version of A Christmas Carol on every TV network every night for a week -- A Southern Christmas Carol, A California Christmas Carol, A New York Christmas Carol, etc.).

You can't kill it. It's too good a story.

It's also remarkably easy to dramatize. Part of it is that Dickens wrote good dialog. Part of it is that the tale has become an icon. Scrooge is one of the most recognizable characters ever created.

This version strips out the lion's share of the description from the text, leaving the kernel of the dialog (much of which will seem familiar). It's broken into scenes, some short, some long.

My initial idea in doing this was for use with a large class group. The class could break into small groups and each group could then select one section to dramatize. If you want to take it all the way to presentation using the whole class, have each character assigned a specific costume piece and let the children pass it from group to group as the characters progress.

Needless to say, there are several excellent adaptations of the story. The definitive version, of course, is the 1951 Alastair Sim movie. Patrick Stewart's 1999 television movie version is the most faithful to the original material and is magnificent (not to mention ruthlessly accurate in portraying London in the mid-1800's). On the lighter side, I've always loved Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol, and I have to confess that I have a soft spot for Scrooged starring Bill Murray (the internal version of the overproduced Christmas Carol TV special with Buddy Hackett as Scrooge and Kathy Lee Rigby as Tiny Tim is proof positive that the story is unbreakable).

Here is your path to the particular parts of the story (it's remarkable how little is actually needed to do the beginning, middle and the end):

Scene Breakdown

Stave 1: Marley's Ghost	1.1 "A Merry Christmas, Uncle" Scrooge Freddie Bob Cratchit	1.2 A Solicitation for the Poor Scrooge Bob Cratchit Gentleman 1 Gentleman 2	1.3 The Shop closes on Christmas Eve Scrooge Bob Cratchit	1.4 Marley's Ghost Calls Scrooge Marley's Ghost
Stave 2: The Ghost of Christmas Past	2.1 The Ghost of Christmas Past Arrives Scrooge Ghost of Christmas Past	2.2 Scrooge's Boyhood Scrooge Ghost of Christmas Past Young Scrooge Scrooge's sister	2.3 Christmas at Fezziwig's Scrooge Ghost of Christmas Past Younger Scrooge Dick Wilkins Old Fezziwig Mrs. Fezziwig Others (fiddler, the Fezziwig's three daughters, employees, etc.)	2.4 Belle Scrooge Ghost of Christmas Past Younger Scrooge Belle Belle's husband
Stave 3: The Second of the Three Spirits	3.1 "You Have Never Seen My Like!" Scrooge Ghost of Christmas Present Passers by	3.2 Christmas Day at the Cratchits Scrooge Ghost of Christmas Present Bob Cratchit Mrs. Cratchit Tiny Tim Other Cratchit Children	3.3 Christmas Day Abroad Scrooge Ghost of Christmas Present Sailors Miners	3.4 Christmas Day at Freddie's Scrooge Ghost of Christmas Present Freddie His Wife Other guests
	3.5 Christmas Present Departs Scrooge Ghost of Christmas Present Ignorance Want
Stave 4: The Last of the Spirits	4.1 Men of Business Scrooge Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come Businessman 1 Businessman 2 Businessman 3 Businessman 4 Businessman 5	4.2 Renderings Scrooge Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come Rag and Bone Man Charwoman Laundress Undertaker	4.3 Stark Visions Scrooge Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come Corpse Man Woman Children	4.4 Back to the Cratchits Scrooge Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come Bob Cratchit Mrs. Cratchit Cratchit Children (Belinda, and Peter)
	4.5 Revelation Scrooge Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come
Stave 5: The End of It!	5.1 "The Turkey As Big As Me?" Scrooge Boy Poulterer	5.2 Freddie's Scrooge Two Gentlemen Servant Freddie Freddie's Wife	5.3 Boxing Day Scrooge Bob Cratchit