Photo Gallery | Reporter Scrapbook: Scrooge's Christmas Trolley Tour

SALISBURY - Stop what you're doing right now.  You need to make plans and buy tickets for the 2012 Inaugural Production of Scrooge's Christmas Trolley Tour.

This is a "reporter scrapbook," not an objective news story.  This will be more like a review and I've got to tell you, I give it five stars.

This a new event in downtown Salisbury, and it's presented by the Lee Street Theatre and the Historic Salisbury Foundation, the Rowan-Salisbury Tourism Authority, and F & M Bank.  The tour runs on Friday and Saturday nights, several times wach night, between now and December 22.

Here's the deal:  you go to the Chamber of Commerce building on E. Innes Street and then board the trolley.  Suddenly, Ebenezer Scrooge boards the trolley with you, and let me tell you, he's not in a good mood.  The night I took the tour Scrooge was played magnificently by Chris Kerley.  Jon Bowlby also plays the role.  

Scrooge is huffing and puffing, demanding that the driver get moving and, creating a look of frustration and exasperation, shouts "I hate public transportation."

The first stop is Salisbury's historic Hall House, resplendent in bright lights.  The Hall House plays the role of Scrooge's home.  Scrooge hurries everyone off the trolley and into the house, loudly warning guests not to touch anything.

I can't give away every element of the production, but let me say that it is very entertaining.  Clunking and clanking on the steps inside the house, Brian Davis of HSF is a convincing and ghoulish Jacob Marley.  He and Scrooge carry on their famous conversation, Marley explaining to Scrooge about those chains and how the links were formed in life with every act of avarice.

I'd love to give you the play by play of the rest of the tour, but you should experience for yourself.  The characters all play their parts wonderfully, whether at the Grimes Mill doubling for Fezziwig's counting house, or the Old English Cemetery for the dramatic scene involving a truly haunting ghost of Christmas future.

This trolley tour is not your usual Christmas event.  This is something that is different, fun, and very uniquely Salisbury.  It even comes with a surprisingly funny nod to our favorite local soft drink.

Tickets for the tour are $20 each and ar available at the Chamber of Commerce building on E. Innes Street in the office of the Rowan Salisbury Tourism Authority.  The tour lasts approximately 45 minutes.

Hats off to Justine Dionne and Bill Greene.  Dionne directed the production and revised the Dickens classic to fit with the trolley tour.  Greene wrote the script, incorporating the familiar themes of "A Christmas Carol," both haunting and humorous.

You will also enjoy Heather Wilson Bowlby and Megan York as the ghost of Christmas past, Russ Bryan and Justin Dionne as young Scrooge, Big Joe McGee as Fezziwig, Lynne Harrell as Belle, Chris Sepulveda as the ghost of Christmas present, Steve Cobb as Bob Cratchit, Caleb Prater and Alex Blumenthal as Tiny Tim, and Leroy Bennett as the ghost of Christmas future.

That's it, my take on the Scrooge Christmas Trolley Tour.  My family and I took the tour and Saturday night and really enjoyed the experience, and I think you will too.