Posted in: Good Omens, TV | Tagged: a christmas carol, charles dickens, doctor who, good omens, neil gaiman, NYPL, Simon Callow

Neil Gaiman Bringing Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" to NYC Town Hall

Neil Gaiman will be portraying Charles Dickens, reading "A Christmas Carol" at Town Hall in New York City - here's what you need to know!

Well, we never thought this would happen – beloved fantasy comics writer, fantasy novelist & showrunner of Good Omens, Neil Gaiman, has turned into England's most cherished classic author Charles Dickens, arguably the most influential popular British author of all time. In real life, Dickens sold out theatres and town halls reading from A Christmas Carol, his most popular book, which helped cement his reputation as a beloved public figure and author. In the late 20th Century, actor Simon Callow also re-enacted Dickens' shows reading A Christmas Carol, which resulted in his being cast as Dickens doing just that in the 2005 revival of Doctor Who.

Neil Gaiman made the announcement of his forthcoming dates as Dickens on his Twitter feed:

Gaiman also talked about it in more detail on his blog rather than fend off more questions about Good Omens Season 3:

"Thirteen years ago, I put on a Victorian Suit and a false beard, and I read Dickens' prompt copy of A Christmas Carol at New York Public Library. It was a wonderful, sold-out performance, introduced by Molly Oldfield, who told us all about Dickens's reading routine."

The reading of A Christmas Carol has become the most popular of the NYPL's audio downloads, and they repost it regularly. Here's the one from 2019:

https://www.nypl.org/blog/2019/12/19/listen-neil-gaiman-reads-christmas-carol

For years people have been asking if I was ever going to do it again. This year, back while the writers of the WGA were on strike, my assistant Rachael asked if I'd do it, and if I did, could she document it? I said yes, and it's becoming a thing.

It's going to be a Christmas Extravaganza, with carol singers and suchlike, signed books for sale, and all sorts of goodies planned. I'm hoping we can get Molly Oldfield over to New York to introduce it once again.

When I was a boy, I saw Welsh actor Emlyn Williams being Charles Dickens on stage, a one-man show I've never forgotten.

Here's the town Hall page for the 18th: https://thetownhall.org/event/neil-gaiman-performs-a-christmas-carol-12-18

Here's the page for the 19th: https://thetownhall.org/event/neil-gaiman-performs-a-christmas-carol-12-19

The ticket presale starts on Thursday, Nov. 2nd at 12 p.m., and regular tickets go on sale on Friday at 10:00 a.m.

It seems that symbolically, Neil Gaiman has also taken on Dickens' mantle and also cemented his growing reputation as "Most Popular British Author," which makes sense when you think about it.

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