Scrooge, the Classic Musical Version
A song a day keeps the coronavirus blues away:
50 years ago, on 11/5/70, the classic musical version of “Scrooge”, starring the wonderful Albert Finney as Ebenezer Scrooge, premiered. The songs of Leslie Briscusse are generally quite good, especially the classic “Thank You Very Much”, and the adaptation of Handel’s Messiah that is converted into the opening and closing title tracks. The gorgeous artwork in the titles are done by the great Ronald Searle, of St. Trinian’s fame, his artwork in glorious color.
Albert Finney, only 37 when he played Scrooge in heavy make-up, is a very enjoyable little scum as Scrooge, and he has fun with the more negative aspects of the character, but also brings nice pathos with the love story, which allows him to play the character when he’s young (since Finney was younger, he could play the younger Scrooge, something most of the actor’s didn’t get to do). The song “You” is rather powerful in relaying how Scrooge’s mistakes have left him with pain.
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