INTERVIEW: John Kevin Jones on the eternal themes of ‘A Christmas Carol’
Photo: John Kevin Jones co-adapted and stars in A Christmas Carol at the Merchant’s House Museum. Photo courtesy of PR rep / Provided with permission.
When the air grows crisp and the lights are sprinkled around the evergreen tree, it’s time for John Kevin Jones to step onto the stage at the Merchant’s House Museum in New York City and bring to life one of the most classic tales in literary history. His one-person retelling of A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens is a welcome presence during the month of December, and audiences have responded in kind over the years. In fact, all 2023 performances are sold out, although virtual tickets to experience the 70-minute monologue are still available.
Jones is not only the actor for the evening; he’s also the producer and co-adaptor of the show, which expertly utilizes the historic surroundings of the museum for full effect when retelling the ghostly tale of Ebenezer Scrooge and his hard-won lessons in the past, present and future.
“I will say that the last two years, 2022 and 2021, have been very challenging, not only as a performer but as a producer,” Jones said in a recent phone interview. “The last couple years have had their ups and downs. Always when I’m on stage, always when I’m performing, it’s an up, it’s thrilling. But this year, I am happy to report that it looks like ticket sales are looking something resembling … pre-pandemic sales. It’s quite amazing. We’re actually sold out for our run. I am amazed. I was talking to a gentleman who I work with who does group sales for Christmas Carol, and he was saying that 2024 is looking very bright for them. And so I am so hopeful that live performance is returning with the rest of the recovering economy and that there will be more jobs for more actors and more work out there. This year is really exciting on a whole lot of levels.”
Each year when Jones performs the piece, he can’t help but connect the themes of the story with the struggles of the world in the 21st century. This year there has been a lot of pain and hurt around the globe, which perhaps makes A Christmas Carol that much more important to witness and learn from.
“I did my friends and family performance last night, which is just our little invited group, and there came a point in the story, particularly talking about the children, it was very moving,” he said. “I felt myself moving in that direction [of breaking down]. We need to pull this back. Let’s pull this back. You’re still on stage. You’re still having to get through the rest of the story. Let’s not have a mental breakdown right here, but absolutely there were some parts of it last night that were so resonant, so full and really affecting in ways that I hadn’t felt before. I’ve been in rehearsal, but having the audience there, that always makes it so real, when you have people right there to speak with. It really got to me.”
Jones’ interpretation of this well-known tale is very much how Dickens himself performed the piece. In fact, the words are based off a script that the author used when he toured New York City in December 1867. That’s essentially the conceit of this retelling: Audiences have been invited into a decked-out parlor to hear from Dickens himself, and he’s brought with him all of these literary chestnuts from this classic tale.
“I do think the issues that he was writing about, I don’t think that he thought those were going away,” Jones said. “I think we all hope that they go away. We all want them to go away. We all want to work toward a better and more beautiful world with more beautiful things, but, of course, that’s not always the case. There are always going to be places that need more than improvement. They need overhauls. They need reexamining. They need to be broken open and rediscovered. That’s what he was doing with this piece. The child labor laws, as they were at that time, I think really affected him. I think you really see that in this work. So whether or not he thought that the work would continue, I don’t know, but the work of liberation for all people, that I think he saw as something that was as eternal as anything for our species, that we are geared toward that.”
Jones added: “It’s interesting, too, because I think that when the audience comes in and they see all the beautiful moldings and the beautiful fireplace and the draperies and the furniture, it’s all amazing. I think it lulls you into a false sense of security that Dickens quickly knocks out from under you, and I think that that juxtaposition for the audience can be really exciting.”
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
A Christmas Carol at the Merchant’s House, starring John Kevin Jones, continues through Sunday, Dec. 24, at the Merchant’s House Museum on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. Click here for more information and tickets. Although in-person performances are sold out, virtual tickets are available.
