INTERVIEW: For this year’s ‘Sherlock Carol,’ they called in a Scrooge expert
Photo: A Sherlock Carol stars Drew McVety as Sherlock Holmes and Allen Gilmore as Ebenezer Scrooge. Photo courtesy of Evan Zimmerman for MurphyMade / Provided by Emily McGill Entertainment with permission.
A Sherlock Carol, a wonderful holiday morsel that mashes together A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens and the character of Sherlock Holmes from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, has returned to New World Stages in New York City for a holiday run of shows. In this blended adaptation, an adult Tiny Tim has asked Holmes to investigate the murder of — spoiler alert! — Ebenezer Scrooge. The investigation proceeds with Christmas-themed scenes set amidst a murder mystery procedural, all to the backdrop of ghostly Londontown.
For this year’s incarnation, Allen Gilmore dons the top hat of Scrooge, which is a fitting role for the accomplished actor. After all, he has been portraying the iconic character in A Christmas Carol at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago for the past several years.
“I have known Drew McVety [who plays Sherlock Holmes] probably for about 30 years,” Gilmore said in a recent phone interview. “We worked together in The Acting Company in the early ‘90s and hit it off there really well, but we actually worked together serendipitously before that. And he had I guess been following my work on Facebook for a little while, and he offered me to audition for Scrooge last year. But I was already committed to A Christmas Carol in Chicago at Goodman. I had been doing Scrooge there since 2014, but this year I was available. And he asked me to read for it again for him and [writer-director] Mark Shanahan, and I did. And the rest, as they say, is history.”
Gilmore said this version of the Christmas story is so much fun to perform. He certainly knows A Christmas Carol from having performed the central role of Scrooge for several years, but he also counts himself a fan of the Holmes’ oeuvre. In fact, he has binge-watched the old Sherlock Holmes mysteries on The Film Detective.
“I’ve actually seen several episodes that have characters and situations that Mark kind of mixed into the play that we’re doing,” he said. “And also it’s really interesting to me to be in the meta position in this show where I’m actually playing opposite the Scrooge character and seeing so many of the things that I have heard said to me over the years when I have played Scrooge, and then in some instances, things that I have actually said but I say in this play a little bit differently. I always have to stop and say, ‘Wait a second, the line is just a little bit different. It’s tweaked a little bit this way in this show, so don’t say the line from Goodman’s.’ It’s interesting, it’s challenging, it’s fun, and I really enjoy the mixing up of these iconic characters.”
This time around, the team at A Sherlock Carol relied on the help of Jen Waldman, who restaged the show for 2022. That’s because Shanahan was busy setting up the London production (the two are married).
“We worked most of the time with Jen Waldman, but of course she was getting her cues from him,” Gilmore said. “He was in London directing the London production, but he came to New York and worked with us for a weekend. I really have to say Jen was wonderful, giving some great ideas and great challenges to the work as far as I was concerned.”
When Shanahan was able to make it back for one weekend of rehearsals, Gilmore appreciated his insights and comments. The actor said the hallmark of a good director is one who offers physical action for the performer to bring to life, and then the actor has freedom to fill in the blanks with emotion, intention and further characterization.
“We’re actors, so it’s necessary and important that you act, that you do things, and then you as the actor can build your reason for doing these things at these certain times around the actual doing of them,” said Gilmore, who has appeared in everything from The School for Scandal to Choir Boy. “He tells you to move there and sit there, and then you say to yourself, ‘OK, why am I doing that? What does that mean to my character and my journey in that scene?’ You already had your blocking and stuff like that. Jen had already staged the play, but he would say things [that] really enhanced my mental journey, my spiritual journey, my journey of logic. I know even more why I move here or there or do this. I understand more deeply this moment that I’m not really physically doing anything. It’s all in the thoughts, and then how I respond when it’s my turn to speak, I know better and more specifically and more deeply what I’m thinking, what this character is feeling, going through, etc. It was really so interesting to have that level that he provided as a director just talking to you about the characters, the situations and his deeper insights into the stories of Sherlock Holmes and Ebenezer Scrooge, and how he had mixed these two and borrowed the two. It was fascinating.”
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
A Sherlock Carol, featuring Allen Gilmore as Scrooge, continues through Jan. 1 at New World Stages in New York City. Click here for more information and tickets.
