The Back Alley

A Christmas Carol is a timeless tale that has captured the hearts of readers and audiences for generations. At its heart, the story is a journey of self-discovery, compassion, and redemption. The visits of ghosts guide Ebenezer Scrooge on Christmas Eve. These three Christmas ghosts reveal the effects of one's actions and the potential for change.

We put it to the experts at UTHealth Houston to help us sort out what Tim might have had and how Scrooge could have changed the course of his life.

When it comes to A Christmas Carol, most people instantly think of Ebenezer Scrooge and his transformative journey. However, a character shapes Scrooge's destiny - Jacob Marley.

To create a new production of A Christmas Carol from scratch is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and I am so honored to shape the Alley’s new adaptation of this beloved classic. We premiered this new version last year, staying faithful to Dickens’ wonderful language and filling the stage with traditional a cappella Christmas songs.

In the bustling streets of Victorian London, Charles Dickens wrote his timeless tale, A Christmas Carol. Published in 1843, this novella is a holiday tradition for readers and theatre audiences alike.

I am pretty sure that Anton Chekhov never imagined an entire evening of five of his short plays, some which he subtitled ‘a joke’ or ‘a vaudeville.’ He did not write them to make up an evening.

When you enter the theatre to see our beautiful production of American Mariachi, you are met with a towering wall that evokes the billboards and neon signs of 1970s Houston. This wall has been an exciting challenge for the Alley’s Lighting Team. Throughout the show, the wall changes colors, and various signs light up to cinematically transport the audience from place to place.

Little Amal is coming to Houston! Lost in the streets of Downtown Houston, Amal hears the iconic sounds of mariachi bands playing in the distance. She turns every street corner, but just can’t seem to find the music…  

Very often the first question audiences have upon walking into a Richard Nelson production is, “what’s up with all those hanging microphones?”

Dickens loved to perform his stories—so he created a special version of A Christmas Carol for exactly that purpose.