Christine Baranski, Emmy- and Tony-winning actor, has turned the pages of Dickens’ classic into a choral spectacle at New York’s Morgan Library.
## From Playground to Performance
Three years ago, Baranski was playing in the playground outside St. Matthew’s Church in Bedford, New York, when she met Matthew Guard, artistic director of the Grammy-nominated Skylark Vocal Ensemble. “I love choral music,” she told him. Guard, intrigued, asked, “Wouldn’t it be fun to do something together?” Baranski, who had become a fangirl of his concerts, agreed to narrate a music-and-spoken-word version of Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol.”
## The Christmas Carol Production
The project premiered last December at the Morgan Library & Museum, which owns the original manuscript of the 1843 classic. A recording was made last June at the Church of the Redeemer in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, and released on December 4 on the LSO Live label. Baranski will perform the piece again with the ensemble on Thursday night at the Morgan, where the manuscript is on display through January 11, and again the following night at The Breakers in Newport, Rhode Island. She will portray the acerbic Agnes van Rhijn when Season 4 of HBO’s “The Gilded Age” begins filming on February 23.
Baranski said, “I have this thing about keeping language alive, keeping beautiful, well-written language.” She praised Julian Fellowes, creator of “The Gilded Age” and “Downton Abbey,” adding, “I think he’d play Agnes if he could. He gives her the witty stuff.”
Guard weaves in underscoring by composer Benedict Sheehan with Baranski’s words and ten carols, including “Silent Night,” “Deck the Halls,” and “Auld Lang Syne.” He explained, “I tried to create space in the narrative for obvious musical exclamation points or emotional feelings, almost like arias in an opera.” The manuscript contains about 30,000 words; Guard said they trimmed it to roughly 5,000 to fit a concert-length program.
Baranski leans on the skills that earned her an Emmy for “Cybill” and Tonys for “The Real Thing” and “Rumors.” She added, “You get to bring to life a lot of different characters, none the least of which is Ebenezer. It’s wonderful for an actor to differentiate in as subtle a way as possible these different characters.” She noted that not many women have done this, citing Alistair Cooke, Patrick Stewart, and Patrick Page.
## Preparing for “The Gilded Age” Return
After working with dialect coach Howard Samuelsohn, Baranski practiced on Zoom to hone a 19th-century voice and avoid cliché. She said, “I said this is a good warm-up for Aunt Agnes because it’s that kind of speech we were taught at Juilliard.” She recalled lessons from Edith Skinner decades ago and explained, “Sometimes it’s just a question of modulating your voice, just different rhythms and staccato or legato. I want the voice of the Ghost of Christmas past to be disembodied… ethereal.”
She did not feel compelled to sing the carols. She remarked, “We take from each other. When the chorus first heard my version of it, I think it subtly influenced the feeling of it and I take from the mood of the carol and bring it into my interpretation.” Guard added, “It’s a really exciting back-and-forth actually.”
## Future Plans
Baranski hopes the project becomes an annual holiday event. She said, “We want to film this someday in the Morgan. Make this a yearly event at the Morgan, because here’s the manuscript and people. It’s just one of those things like Handel’s ‘Messiah’ or ‘The Nutcracker.” She plans to gift the CD to her grandchildren, four boys ranging from ages 2 to 12. She recalled playing Martha May Whovier in the 2000 film “Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas” and noted, “They’re curiously not interested in my even being Martha May in ‘The Grinch.’ But I just want to be their grandma – do you know what I mean – and not somebody?”
## Key Takeaways
– Christine Baranski narrates Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” in a choral project at the Morgan Library, blending music and language.
– The production will be performed again at the Morgan and at The Breakers, coinciding with the filming of HBO’s “The Gilded Age.”
– Baranski envisions the project as a yearly holiday event, similar to Handel’s “Messiah” or “The Nutcracker.”
