A Christmas Carol: The Concert is a unique musical event — Charles Dickens' popular 1843 novella has been adapted for a live orchestral concert with choir and soloists, and performed for an audience in a concert setting. The score, composed by Bob Christianson, recalls Broadway classics such as Les Miserables and The Phantom of the Opera, and is filled with memorable, haunting and rousing songs. It includes musical styles that range from classical to Broadway to blues and gospel. The story, faithfully adapted by Alisa Hauser (who also wrote the lyrics), is performed by leading lights from the Chicago and New York theater world, including Michael Aaron Lindner (Ebenezer Scrooge), E. Faye Butler (Narrator), Scott Coulter (Fred/Bob Cratchit), Kyle Scatliffe (Marley/The Ghosts), and Arya Daire (Belle).
In autumn of 1526, the Emperor, Charles V, sends his German landsknechts led by Georg von Frundsberg to march towards Rome. The inferior papal armies, commanded by Giovanni de'Medici, try to chase them in the midst of a harsh winter. Nevertheless, the Imperial armies manage to cross the rivers along their march and get cannons thanks to the maneuvers of its Lords. In a skirmish, Giovanni de'Medici is wounded in the leg by a falconet shot. The attempts to cure him fail and he dies. The Imperial armies assault Rome. The film is beautifully but unassumingly set, and shows the hard conditions in which war is waged and its lack of glory. It ends straightforwardly with the declaration made after the death of Giovanni de'Medici by the commanders of the armies in Europe of not using again fire weapons because of their cruelty.
