Lots of music — even snow — promised for ‘A Christmas Carol’ this weekend
By Gene Robbins, Managing Editor
Undaunted by interruptions in rehearsals and uncertainty whether the elaborate costumes would arrive in time, Hillsborough High School Theatre will start its year tonight when “A Christmas Carol” is staged.
It’s the familiar story of Ebeneezer Scrooge’s redemption at holiday time. The show promises a lot of holiday music, a heartwarming message, hundreds of costumes and thrilling special effects, said Bernard Solomon, the show’s faculty director.
Shipped in mid-October, the costumes were supposed to come in the middle of the Sandy storm. They were reported lost, then found. Twenty boxes of “absolutely beautiful” costumes showed up Tuesday from the former annual Madison Square Garden’s production of “A Christmas Carol,” Mr. Solomon said.
”The storm really messed us up, but we’re rising above it and making a great show happen anyway,” Mr. Solomon said.
He said the show was practically a musical with a “huge rendition” of “Silent Night.”
”Almost every traditional carol in the show somewhere,” he said.
The expected Hillsborough stagecraft will be experienced, too, he said.
”It snows over the audience,” he said. “You can’t do Christmas carols without it snowing.”
The cast of 50 is the largest ever for any show at the high school, he said. There are 16 younger students representing all the elementary, middle and intermediate schools.
Shows will be presented tonight, tomorrow and Saturday at 7 p.m. with a 2 p.m. Saturday matinee.
The production is teaming up with Prudential in Newark to boost a Thanksgiving drive to help people forced out of their homes to celebrate the holiday with some style.
The audience is asked to bring plastic utensils, canned meats, instant mashed potatoes, canned yams, cranberry sauce, gravy, stuffing, canned fruit and vegetables, rice, condensed milk, paper products and macaroni and cheese to help displaced people.
For every donation, a person will receive a ticket in a raffle for a pair of tickets to one of the three remaining high school shows this year, Mr. Solomon said.

