Montpelier – Yes Folks!! He’s STILL Doing It! Join us in celebrating 50 YEARS of holiday tradition as Lost Nation Theater  teams with Willem Lange one more time to present this beloved Yankee Storyteller performing Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol: A Ghost Story! 2pm Sunday December 7th – a curtain time that makes it easy for the whole family to attend! It’s One-Show Only!

It all happens onstage at Lost Nation Theater, protected by a state-of-the-art Synexis Air Purification System.

LNT Producing Artistic Director Kathleen Keenan says:

“We love adding our theatrical magic to Willem’s nuanced storytelling in this wonderful tradition! 2025 is Willem’s 50th Anniversary and we’re so pleased to have helped keep his performance streak unbroken! The atmospheric environment, designed by Kim Bent, illuminated by SJB Lighting Design, enhances the mood to make Dickens glorious tale dazzle and shine!”

 Emmy-Winner Willem Lange has been performing his reading of Dickens’ Christmas Carol every year since 1975. He loves the story and that love shines through in his reading. 

“Christmas is my time to howl,” he says.

Jim Lowe, Arts Editor & Theater Critic for Times Argus/Rutland Herald had this to say about Willem’s first LNT show:

“Rather than an impressionist, Lang is a raconteur par excellence. Sometimes he did portray, but he was much more like a grandfather telling his grandchildren a Christmas story. And, child or adult, it was irresistible.”

Lange says “My 72-year friendship with Dickens “A Christmas Carol” began at my small liberal arts college in Ohio,” There is where he first heard the rendition he performs – Charles Dickens’ very own original prompter script for his 1867-68 tour of America. His college professor, Dr Lean, was already “nearing the end of his string, closing in on 50 unbroken years and, smitten by the story, I wondered: ‘Who’s going to take over when he’s gone?”

After mulling it over for 23 years, Willem (author, storyteller, carpenter & TV host) finally decided he would:

“In 1975, I sat down with my typewriter and an LP recording of Professor Lean’s performance, and typed out the script. That took some patience! My wife and I invited friends over; I borrowed a set of tails; and we held the first session in our living room. Who would have suspected it would come to this!”

All these years later, Lost Nation Theater is thrilled to keep his streak going for #50 – and our 5th Annual presentation.

 Dickens "A Christmas Carol: a ghost story," published in 1843, turned Ebenezer Scrooge into a household name. Now nearly 200 years, 40 language translations and countless film, musical & stage adaptations later, Willem offers:

“Dickens had the gift of finding the sensitive spot in each of us –like scratching a puppy in a particular place and making it wave a hind leg. t’s a haunting story (literally) of a miserly curmudgeon who comes face-to-face with the personal result of his ill-tempered stinginess. It speaks to the Scrooge in all of us. I love the moment when Scrooge, wakes to the joy of his new-born self, tries tentatively to laugh, and the amused audience laughs along with him.”

Join Us! Live! In person or online. Sunday afternoon December 7 at 2pm. City Hall Arts Center, downtown Montpelier.

It’s inspiring to work with Willem Lange, one of New England’s most loved raconteurs, and help bring his inimitable storytelling instincts to Charles Dickens’ iconic tale. It’s ‘no-brainer’ casting! – Kim Bent, LNT Founder

Tickets are $20 (general) $15 Stu & Sen; $10 Youth;  $20 Live-stream or Digital Viewing (available til December 31st.)

www.lostnationtheater.org phone: 802-229-0492. or purchase in person at the City Clerks Office.

(City Hall’s elevator remains inoperable - requiring climbing stairs to attend in person. We are streaming for those who can’t join us. Call or email for more information.)

Lost Nation Theater, named One of the Best Regional Theaters in America by the NYC Drama League City of Montpelier, Vermont Mutual Insurance, Random Acts of Kindness Fund, Leahy Press, Eternity, and The Point-FM.