It might not be December yet, but these days, the holiday season starts as soon as Halloween costumes are stuffed into the back closet. Christmas is closing in on Chicago, and one of the city’s holiday classics, “A Christmas Carol,” is returning to the Goodman Theatre for its 36th season.
Elizabeth Ledo is also returning to the Goodman for her third year playing the role of the Ghost of Christmas Past. As Christmas Past, Ledo takes Scrooge back in time to revisit past love and loss so he can begin to see the error of his ways. The Ghost of Christmas Past, and her adventure with Scrooge through time, sparks hope in Scrooge’s heart, and this gives Ledo a strong connection to her character.
“I get to take him on this journey, I get to watch his heart warm a little bit, and I get to watch the cracks start to happen within him,” Ledo said. “It’s one of my favorite stories of all time. It’s a story about redemption.”
Though Ledo currently lives and works in the theater world, she found her passion for acting later than most.
“I wanted to be a marine biologist,” Ledo said.
But although Ledo excelled at goofing off and socializing during class, high school math and science stumped her. One day, acting on her teacher’s advice, she tried out for the fall play and was cast in her first theatrical role.
“All of the sudden, I understood it,” Ledo said. “I responded to it, and people responded to me doing it.” She had found her calling.
Today, Ledo has successfully turned her passion into a career, and one of her favorite gigs is “A Christmas Carol” at the Goodman Theatre. As she explained, “It’s a story that’s such a great reminder to give and of humanity and of goodness and of generosity. We can all make the choice to be good to one another, and it’s just the best time of year to be reminded of that.”
In preparation for the holiday season in Chicago, Ledo puts her energy into a “physically grueling” four-week rehearsal period that flows into nine shows a week from mid-November to the day after Christmas. The show is taxing, and although Ledo is very close with the cast and crew, she said she misses out on much of her own holiday season.
“I see these guys and gals more than I see my partner or my family,” Ledo said of her castmates.
The show is quite a production, and even though it does not change much from year to year, it is still technically demanding. Ledo’s own costume is covered in lights, and she is strapped into a harness and lifted through the air. Though she enjoys the flying, Ledo admits that before her entrance from above, her mind starts to play tricks on her.
“That’s when it gets a little scary,” Ledo said. But she has complete faith in the show’s crew, and the audience loves the dramatic effect.
One of the audience members this year will be Desmond Pope (Kellogg ’11). Pope is a “scenemaker” on the junior board at the Goodman Theatre. Scenemakers are young Chicago professionals who work to raise awareness and funds for the theater. Pope, already a member of the Chicago professional scene, became a scenemaker to extend his involvement into the city’s art scene.
“You can go anywhere in the country and live, but what makes it enriching is art,” Pope said. “It’s places like the Goodman in particular that bring that aspect to the community.”
This won’t be Pope’s first time seeing the show. “A Christmas Carol” at the Goodman was a holiday tradition in Pope’s family when he was a child, and the story carries a powerful message for him.
“Even with what we’ve done in the past and getting caught up in that, we still feel we can make conscious decisions to change how we’re living,” Pope said. “We can make a better impact on others going forward. … Once (Scrooge) changes, he is able to embrace the Christmas spirit.”
As this same holiday spirit envelopes the city, families like Pope’s will buy their tickets to continue the “Christmas Carol” tradition, just as Ledo will continue to play her part in this annual show.
“I am truly honored and humbled to be a part of that for so many families,” Ledo said. “I have one of the best jobs in the world.”
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