YOKOSUKA NAVAL BASE, Japan — “A Christmas Carol,” about how miser Ebenezer Scrooge becomes a charitable man during one long, spirit-filled night, comes to Benny Decker Theater’s stage at Yokosuka Naval Base on Friday.
The musical, adapted from Charles Dickens’ classic novel, begins at 7 p.m. and is free.
The play is being brought to Yokosuka by the base’s Morale, Welfare and Recreation department. It’s being produced by Oneworld Inc., with a British cast from the International Theatre Group of London. The group performs annually at Yokosuka, said Earl Murray, MWR entertainment director, in adaptations of works by Shakespeare, George Bernard Shaw, George Orwell and Dickens.
“It’s hard to see a real stage play when you’re in Japan, so we bring it to them,” he said.
Murray said at best the plays bring about 400 people to the theater, which holds 626 and routinely sells out for more mainstream entertainment such as showings of “The Matrix” or “Spiderman” movies. Still, he says, it’s something MWR likes to do and should do: “You can’t just fixate on one group of people. We try to offer something for everyone.”
Murray also has scheduled a Christmas concert with the 7th Fleet Band, a children’s entertainer, the Harlem Ambassador Basketball team and a hypnotist — all to perform in the next few weeks.
“A Christmas Carol,” which is set on Christmas Eve, often is shown in December. Murray said he brings the troupe, which travels in Japan and Hong Kong, to Yokosuka when the actors have a day off from their regular touring schedule.
