Broadway stars set for new streaming Christmas musical Estella Scrooge

An online production of a new Christmas musical has been announced.

Estella Scrooge is inspired by A Christmas Carol and other works of Charles Dickens.

It will be produced digitally, combining socially distanced performances from the cast who will each film their performances separately.

The production will make its debut online via a still to be announced streaming platform.

The musical features a book and direction from John Caird (Les Misérables, Nicholas Nickelby) with music and lyrics by Tony Paul Gordon (Jane Eyre).

The cast will be led by Betsy Wolfe (Waitress) in the title role, the niece of Carol’s famous character Ebenezer Scrooge.

She will be joined by Clifton Duncan (The Play That Goes Wrong) as her childhood sweetheart Philip “Pip” Nickleby and Danny Burstein (Moulin Rouge!) as Ebenezer Scrooge.

Further casting includes Patrick Page (Hadestown) as Mr. Merdle, Carolee Carmello (Mamma Mia) as Marla Havisham, Megan McGinnis (Little Women) as Betty Cratchit and Lauren Patten (Jagged Little Pill) as Dawkins.

Completing the cast are Adam Halpin, Sarah Litzsinger, Tom Nelis, EM Grosland, Phoenix Best, David Bryant, Gabrielle Reid, Samuel Lee Roberts, Michael Francis McBride, Michele Lee, Kristen Faith Oei, William Youmans, Kevyn Morrow, Brooklyn Shuck, Joziyah Jean-Felix and Willow McCarthy.

A synopsis of the musical shares:

Estella Scrooge is a young Wall Street tycoon with a penchant for foreclosing. A hotelier in her hometown of Pickwick, Ohio has defaulted on his mortgage loan and Estella fancies the idea of doing the deed personally. Arriving at Harthouse on Christmas Eve, Estella discovers that the defaulting party is none other than her childhood sweetheart, Pip Nickelby.

Always the humanitarian, Pip has generously transformed the property into a refuge for the sick, dispossessed, and homeless. A freak snowstorm (in Pickwick?) forces Estella to take refuge herself. That night, as it happened to her ancestor Ebenezer long ago, she too is haunted by three visitations…and oh what uninvited midnight houseguests they are!

A release date is to be confirmed.