Date: Wed, 27 Nov 2002 18:21:03 EST
Subject: PUPT: Shameless Promotion -- Carol is Back!!!  Hanukkah, Kwanzaa & Ramadan are around 


the corner

The Czechoslovak-American Marionette Theater offers its 
ChristmasCarol, Oy Hanukkah, Merry Kwanzaa (Happy Ramadan),
an adaptation of Dickens' classic with Old World accents and New World 
inclusiveness.  The production was a runaway hit of CAMT's last year's 
HOLIDAY PUPPET FESTIVAL. 

Jan Hus Playhouse
351 E 74 St betw 1-2 Ave
Dec 27-31-Jan 3-5-AT-7:00 pm
Dec 28,29,31-Jan1,4,5-AT-5:00pm
Jan 1-AT- 3pm
SmartTix (212) 206-1515 www.smarttix.com

December 28, 2001, Friday    Late Edition - Final
             FAMILY FARE; 

             By Laurel Graeber

             Holidays in Hand

             You can probably find as many adaptations of ''A Christmas
Carol'' as there are
             links in Marley's woeful chain. But the production by Vit
Horejs, the founder of
             the Czechoslovak-American Marionette Theater, is especially
unusual, and not
             just because it uses puppets. You might call this a carol for
all winter holidays.

             For instance, Fezziwig, Scrooge's former employer, jovially
sings of the joys of
             dreidel playing. When the Ghost of Christmas Past reminds him
that ''all this
             multicultural stuff'' isn't appropriate for the 1800's,
Fezziwig replies, ''But my
             grandfather was a Feinstein.'' In a scene from Scrooge's
future, Hanukkah
             revelers rejoice that this old miser is dead and won't be
their landlord
             anymore. And a duo sing holiday tunes not only in English, but
also in Czech,
             Hebrew and Swahili.

             The result is ''A Christmas Carol, Oy Hanukkah, Merry
Kwanzaa,'' a delightful
             holiday hodgepodge that still hews closely to Dickens's tale.
It also has
             contemporary humor, like Scrooge's request for frequent-flier
miles from the
             ghosts and his whining, ''What's wrong with a little hostile
takeover here and
             there?''

             Mr. Horejs (pronounced HOR-shezz) is also offering ''Winter
Tales With
             Strings,'' adaptations of stories told to him by his
grandmother in Prague. They
             include ''The Snow Maiden Snehurka'' and ''The 12 Months.'' In
the second play
             lucky children go onstage and play some of the brothers who
help the heroine.

             The program also features ''The Water Spirit and the Stingy
Tailor,'' about a
             miser who loves nothing but gold until a river demon teaches
him the error of
             his ways. (Sounds familiar. Did Dickens speak Czech?)


             Copyright 2001 The New York Times Company




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