Hamilton-Gibson Productions offers a full weekend of holiday entertainment in celebration of Wellsboro’s 40th Annual Dickens of a Christmas. The festivities begin with the Dickens of a Concert on Friday, December 6 at 7:30pm. This night of music will feature HG’s two children’s choirs and musical guests including singer Jessica Strause of Elmira, NY, and organist Marian Miller of Wellsboro.

The program focuses on American music including the Christmas carols of Alfred Burt. In 1942 Burt took over the tradition his father began in 1922 of composing carols as holiday gifts for friends and neighbors, and many of these pieces have gone on to become cherished American favorites. HG choral director Thomas Putnam shares, “A woman named Willa Hudson wrote the lyrics for some of Burt’s carols, and was a colleague of my father when he lived and taught music in Pontiac, Michigan before he retired and moved to Wellsboro.

This is how I was first introduced to this uniquely American collection of holiday tunes.” In addition to three Alfred Burt carols, all the selections for the evening are by American composers. “We’re exploring all American music this year in preparation for our tour to England this May,” Putnam added. Selections include a spiritual, a rap, and a new setting of a beloved 18^th Century poem, among others.

The Dickens weekend continues with no less than seven opportunities to see the stage version of his classic tale, A Christmas Carol. There are six showtimes on Saturday, and one pay-what-you-can offering on Sunday at 2:30pm. HG presents this play in both the Coolidge Theatre of the Deane Center, and the Warehouse Theatre, both in Wellsboro.

 This stage adaptation by Christopher Shario was chosen because it uses Dickens’ original words and offers both character interaction and the use of narrators to tell the story. In the Coolidge Theatre audiences can enjoy a more modern and dramatic staging of the show with Rob Kathcart starring as Ebenezer Scrooge, and in the Warehouse Theatre a more traditionally staged version features local Tom Walrath offering a dynamic version of the iconic Scrooge.

Tickets for all of these performances are available at HGP.Booktix.com, or by calling Hamilton-Gibson Productions at 570-724-2079. Advance reservations are highly recommended.