photographs by Barry Wisdom / If you've consistently heard good things about Sacramento Theatre Company's almost-annual musical production of Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol," but have just never made it down to the company's main stage at 1419 H St., you may want to make an extra-special effort to catch this year's 25th anniversary mounting. After the current run, which officially kicks off Saturday, Dec. 1, and closes Dec. 23, STC will be pulling a "Disney" and locking away playwright Richard Hellesen's adaptation (with music by the late David DeBerry) for five years. The next opportunity local audiences will have to enjoy the show that's become an STC tradition is 2017. Returnin

All Photos: Barry Wisdom Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” is possibly the most popular Christmas story ever written, with the exception of the Nativity story itself. Long before radio, television and the multimedia assault we have today, live theatres – from professional to the smallest community – were producing adaptations of Dickens’ novel. For decades the theatre-going public has continued to embrace “A Christmas Carol,” giving the theatres producing it a nearly surefire hit. Many theatre companies depend on their holiday classics the way retail stores depend on the holiday shopping season.  Sacramento Theatre Company now alternates “A Christmas Carol” with its other popular ho

Saturday was opening night for Sacramento Theater Company's holiday hit, "Cinderella” Imagine British pantomime, a vaudeville act and musical comedy with a little Beach Blanket Babylon thrown in. The show is definitely interactive. Director Peggy Shannon started things off by having the audience do a warm-up by yelling back at the characters. And the characters don't just address the fourth wall, they blast through it. The plot is well known, but in this version a lot of topical humor and inside jokes are thrown in. The acting is excellent; many of the actors have appeared in previous STC productions of "Cinderella." This includes Michael RJ Campbell as Goneril and Brian Rodda as Regan, t