‘A Sherlock Carol’ – Written by Mark Shanahan; Directed by Ilyse Robbins; Featuring Paul Melendy; Leigh Barrett; Christopher Chew; Jon Vellante; Mark Linehan; Michelle Moran;  Scenic Design by Erik D. Diaz; Costumes by Sophia Baramidze; Lighting Design by SeifAllah Solotto-Cristobal; Sound Design by Alex Berg; Presented by Lyric Stage Boston, Boston, MA running November 14 through December 21.

 By C.J. Williams

Famously, Dickens’ A Christmas Carol opens with the line, “Marley was dead: to begin with.” Playing now at the Lyric Stage until December 21st, A Sherlock Carol, opens to the tune of “Moriarty was dead: to begin with”. The famous consulting detective is in a black, offensive, depression (throwing out friends and spitting “Bah!”). Moriarty is dead, and Holmes, self-obsessed and shut in on Christmas Eve, refuses all invitations from Watson to partake in holiday cheer…and Moriarty is dead. But that might just as easily have been said of Scrooge at the opening of his story, and Holmes, as we enter A Sherlock Carol, are dead themselves: They’ve both lost the thing that gives hope to the human heart.

Scrooge was essentially brought back to life. Can Holmes be?

Read more “Holiday Mashup of Dickens and Holmes is Both Familiar and Surprising “