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‘A Christmas Carol: A Ghost Story of Christmas’Through Dec. 29Olney Theatre Centre2001 Olney-Sandy Spring Road, Olney, MD$51-$86Olneytheatre.org

In an unmistakably husky voice, Elizabeth Ashley once told me, “When asked to help a friend, you don’t dick around.” The ever-candid actor was referring to when she replaced an unwell Dixie Carter in the 2010 Shakespeare Theatre Company’s production of “Mrs. Warren’s Profession.”

Similarly, when celebrated local actor Michael Russotto was more recently asked to cover for colleague and friend Paul Morella in Olney Theatre Center’s unique version of Charles Dickens’s “A Christmas Carol: A Ghost Story of Christmas,” he didn’t hesitate. 

When first asked to stand in for Morella (who experienced a health event earlier this fall that has prevented him from performing over the holiday season), Russotto knew this wasn’t just any part. Faithfully conceived by Morella, this “A Christmas Carol” is a one-man show and a beloved Olney tradition, requiring the actor to portray more than 50 characters, ranging from miserly Scrooge to Tiny Tim. 

“Of course, my immediate instinct was to help out, but then the panic set in. Suddenly I was faced with a daunting new role as well as a condensed rehearsal period,” says Russotto, 64. “There’s no magic to learning a dense piece of material. However, I would suggest the first thing is to break it up into chunks. And it’s important to remain calm, otherwise you’ll run out of the room screaming.”

Though he’s tackled some wordy two handers over the years, Olney’s “Carol” is Russotto’s first solo show. From the start, he recognized the size of the job, knowing from experience that there’s no substitution for the grind of sitting with the formidable script for hours and hours and do the memorizing and more memorizing.

Fortunately for him, it hasn’t been unpleasant. For starters, Russotto likes the story. “It’s a journey of redemption. And with its themes of greed and what goes with that, it’s a marvelous parable for the moment, especially for those of us who live in a capitalist society.”

Also, as a big fan of 19th century literature, Russotto was already fond of Dickens and his Christmas tale. Published in December of 1843, it fits right in with what the actor likes: “I like the parentheticals, its ins and outs, and the curlicues.”

Along with decades of terrific work on the D.C. stage, Russotto has narrated hundreds of audio books for Books on Tape and The Library of Congress. He says, “I’m often called on to narrate works from this era whether they be murder mysteries, or whatever. They’ll hand it to me, and that’s just fine.”

How might a show built by Morella who’s straight be different when played by out actor Russotto?

“I’d say that being gay gives me a special perspective in that it affords me an unusual empathy with some of the characters and perhaps leads me to portray some of them in more of a rainbow light than they might otherwise be portrayed.”

And Russotto, who lives with his longtime partner in Adams Morgan, readily confesses to having a crush on the Ghost of Christmas Present who’s often portrayed as a bearded, bare-chested Dionysian sexpot.

However, reading aloud into a microphone is one thing, but to memorize and perform alone on stage at Olney’s Mulitz-Gudelsky Theatre Lab is something else.

Playing Scrooge and company wasn’t something he had previously imagined doing. Still, he’s found joy in voicing the novella’s many characters: “I especially love the three ghosts; the gentlemen who come and try to solicit for the poor and the ruffians who show up at the end of the play.”

In taking on Dickens solo, Russotto now finds himself in the company of some illustrious queers including Eddie Izzard who did “Dickens’ Great Expectations” in New York, and BAFTA award winning actor and fearless activist Miriam Margolyes who has successfully toured with her one woman hit show “Dickens’ Women.”

Actors are advised to challenge themselves now and them. It’s considered important to do something that you’re a little terrified of doing, push yourself a little bit. Well, this job is checking all of those boxes, he says.

And after the show’s run ends? How does an actor unwind from this?

Without hesitation, Russotto replies, “I’ll be having a big martini. And maybe we’ll make more of New Year’s in a way that we don’t usually do. That’s what I’m thinking.”

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