The Haywood Arts Regional Theater is getting ready to unveil what it hopes will become a holiday tradition for the region, a lavish production of Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol.”  Featuring an original script by Mark Jones, and an original score by Ann Rhymer Schwabland, the show is will be a spectacle, with a cast of 40 and a nine-piece orchestra.  Set construction began last January, and HART plans to revive the show annually and add more to it each year. But the show is starting big, with smoke, fog and snow on the stage to add to the mystery.

The ghosts are the stars of the story, and in this production they are envisioned as something special. Jacob Marley will appear like a floating octopus of chains and money boxes, the ghost of Christmas past will appear clothed in twinkling ...