Every November like clockwork, A Christmas Carol returns to Clarence Brown Theatre before Thanksgiving leftovers even hit the fridge. Watching Scrooge get haunted into a higher state of self-actualization is a beloved local holiday tradition that now spans over 30 years, and it’s a nice annual reminder to gut-check one’s own life: What have you been putting your energy into lately? The good stuff, or the BS? If you die tomorrow, what would you leave undone, unsaid or unloved?
Charles Dickens’ story holds up, and it always will. But after three decades on the same stage, it takes a little creativity to stave off the déjà vu.
This year’s run production, running Nov. 20-Dec. 20, opens tonight with a few surprises that will keep even veteran audiences on the edge of their seats. I sat down with director Patrick Lanczki for a behind-the-scenes preview.
Patrick, a divine gift from the New York City theater gods to the University of Tennessee, has been embedded in the local theater ecosystem for nearly a decade. His direction of A Christmas Carol is shaped by both personal history and pop culture nostalgia. His earliest love of A Christmas Carol came from the 1951 Alastair Sim film, and he’s watched just about every adaptation since: Muppets, McDuck, Patrick Stewart, Bill Murray.
“But no matter the version,” he said, “the story just works.”
Knoxville agrees. Every year, thousands show up, many of them returning annually. Some families have been attending long enough that their children who once watched the show from the audience now perform in it.
Patrick recalls an email received last year from a longtime attendee, thanking them for telling this story year after year. She wrote that, no matter the weather, she bundled up her family every December and brought them to A Christmas Carol. It was a ritual. She appreciated its timeless messages: that goodness matters, that change is possible, that we can all do better than we did the day before.
“I do think it’s like a community service that we do every year,” Patrick says. “Because I don’t know anyone who sees the show and doesn’t reflect on their own personal behavior — on somebody they might have wronged, or something they regret, or someone they want to say they’re sorry to, or I love you.”
As he’s talking, the wheels in my own head start turning. It’s so easy to get bogged down in rumination and regret. The “should haves.” The “why didn’t I.” But A Christmas Carol offers a different lens. It insists that the hour is never too late for change. If we’re still here — still living, breathing and making choices — then we’re always on the eve of something. And we still have the power to decide what tomorrow looks like.
“I just don’t think that happens enough,” Patrick continues. “I mean, it might happen in your living room watching a movie, but to sit there with 564 people and share that experience, it’s good for you. I’m excited for people to come see it and take that ride.”
You can’t remix A Christmas Carol too much for people. It’s the holidays, after all, and we love our traditions. Don’t take away our Victorian skirts and top hats. But building on the current conception by Kathleen F. Conlin, Patrick shakes the snowglobe and puts his own stamp on things.
The script is the same. The set, with its larger-than-life clock, is technically the same. But according to Patrick, maybe three or four percent of last year’s staging survived this reimagining. Everything else is rebuilt, restyled, re-lit, re-conceived.
And perhaps the biggest shift: reclaiming the fact that Dickens’ tale is, at its core, a ghost story. “People forget that,” he said. “It should be a little scary in places.”
Armed with new projection tools, upgraded lighting equipment, and a design team eager to go bolder, spookier and moodier, CBT has leaned fully into the supernatural this year without sacrificing the warmth or humor audiences expect.
Actor Jed Diamond returns as Ebenezer Scrooge, anchoring a production that now carries a slightly sharper emotional resonance in our post-pandemic world. We’ve all had our fill of isolation, introspection and inner cynicism lately—territory Scrooge knows all too well.
“I think people relate to him differently now,” Patrick says. “We all know what it’s like to stew in our own thoughts for far too long.”
More than 30 actors appear onstage, from community performers to UT undergrads, MFA students and faculty. Add in the tech crew, dressers, carpenters, stage management, and two alternating casts of Cratchit children … A Christmas Carol is community built.
“That’s part of what makes it special,” Patrick says. “It’s truly a company. You don’t find many theaters left that operate like this.”
A Christmas Carol opens tonight with 19 productions between now and Dec. 20. Runtime for is 2 hours 20 minutes with an intermission. Clarence Brown Theatre is located at 1714 Andy Holt Ave. on the UT campus.
Tickets and the digital playbill are available at the website here or by calling (865) 974-5161.
Give the gift of theater this holiday season!
For just $95, you’ll receive one ticket voucher good for two tickets to any performance in the 2025–2026 season, a $5 concessions coupon, and an exclusive Clarence Brown Theatre mug! Quantities are limited—don’t miss this wonderful way to share the magic of theater with someone special this season. These pre-wrapped packages are available at the Box Office throughout the run of ‘A Christmas Carol.’
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