Tony Norman’s stage musical, A Christmas Carol by Candlelight, had its premiere performance at the City Varieties Theatre in Leeds on November 25th 2004. It was the perfect location, a beautiful old theatre filled with history and tradition. The show went on to tour the UK with the Reduced Opera Company that year and another successful tour followed in 2005. Tony’s work as a children’s author, songwriter and record producer then took him in different directions.

In 2015 he felt drawn back to his Christmas show and staged it in his home town of Eastbourne. The stage musical is narrated by Charles Dickens and Tony knew who he wanted to play the part this time around. ‘Nicholas Parsons was my first choice. His voice and image made him perfect. I sent him the script and he came back to me the same week to say he’d love to be involved. We played a short run and every performance was sold out. Nicholas said he loved the way the original songs I’d written for Scrooge, the ghosts and other characters like Fezziwig and Bob Cratchit, blended so well with the traditional carols featured in the show. He also liked the way his narration as Dickens dovetailed with key scenes acted out onstage by a troupe of travelling players. Getting that level of support from Nicholas meant a lot to me and we became good friends.’

Nicholas and Tony produced an album of the musical in London with Nicholas recording his narration at the age of 95. Ill health then restricted any high level promotion of the CD and when Nicholas passed away in January 2020, Tony lost heart in the project. It seemed to be the end of the story, but then BBC Radio 4 Extra wrote to say they were presenting a Nicholas Parsons Day on Christmas Eve 2023 and they would like to broadcast the recorded version of ‘A Christmas Carol by Candlelight’ four times as part of their programming.

‘Nicholas would have been so happy to know we were receiving such terrific support from the BBC,’ says Tony. ‘His brilliant narration was warmly received by listeners to Radio 4 Extra and thousands more heard the musical on BBC Sounds. It was all very exciting and has inspired me to take the show full circle and produce it as a stage musical in December 2025. Nicholas will always be part
of our story, but I know he would be fully supportive of whoever plays Charles Dickens next Christmas. The show is set on Christmas Eve 1865 and stays true to the original story. No gimmicks, no electric instruments, just a troupe of travelling players, a grand piano and a beautiful narration from the author himself. It's a lovely show. Just the thing to lift the gloom of these times we live in and transport us back to the candlelit warmth of a Victorian Christmas.’

More information: Tracey Spuyman. tracey@spuyman.com

Planning for the 2025 stage musical is at an advanced stage and full details will be available first here on our official website.