Our story begins downtown on Christmas Eve, 1948, where skaters have gathered in the city square to celebrate the holiday season. In stark contrast to the cheer, Ebenezer Scrooge and his clerk Bob Cratchit compose eviction notices in their office. Scrooge’s nephew, Fred, skates with some of Judy’s friends while he waits for her—and this doesn’t make Judy very happy when she finally does arrive! But Fred and Judy can’t stay angry with each other for long, and they dance into a flurry. Meanwhile, Scrooge finally releases Cratchit for the evening. Joan Cratchit comes to meet her husband and offers Ebenezer a humble Christmas gift, and Fred and Judy invite him to their annual Christmas party. Scrooge declines both offerings with only “humbugs” for all. “Keep Christmas in your own way,” he says, “and I’ll keep it in mine.”

On his way home, Ebenezer meets some urchin children, as well as some girls selling flowers for a penny. Presented with these opportunities for charity, Scrooge again shows his ill-temper and miserliness—it’s only more humbugs. He chases everyone away and finally arrives at his gloomy home. There, imagines that he has a strange vision in his old clock—not of the clock face, but of Marley, his partner dead now seven years to the day. The vision disappears. After checking that everything is in its place, Ebenezer heads to bed quite satisfied. Darkness is cheap, and Scrooge likes it.

Academy of Ballet Fantastique | Bob Williams Photography