Ivoryton Playhouse. It offers a delightful evening of entertainment with its holiday show, God Bless Us, Everyone! through Sunday, Dec. 15. It is a fun take on A Christmas Carol with a theatrical twist.

Written by Artistic Director Jacqueline Hubbard, it combines the classic story with a backstage story that just happens to be set at the Ivoryton Playhouse.

Hubbard, who also directed, has assembled a fine cast, including many favorites of audiences at the theater. The nine-member cast is divided into two groups. The first group we meet is the current Playhouse staff. It is Christmas Eve 2024. The theatre has extended its holiday show to that night, and now there is a blizzard outside. The audience and most of the cast left safely, but a few remained. Each is anxious to get home but is stranded. And then the electricity goes out.

While they are trying to find flashlights, we encounter some ghostly apparitions. This is their place on Christmas Eve, and they're annoyed that there are people in their space. These are the ghosts of the Playhouse; each has performed there. Every Christmas Eve, they return to play their greatest roles, that of the cast of A Christmas Carol. Over the years, this group of ghostly apparitions has slowly diminished as some disappeared. Only four remain to enact the show.

Perhaps you can guess that the current staff will become part of the show to help these ghosts put on an updated version.

This is where Hubbard has been very creative.  Arthur (R. Bruce Connelly), the leader of the family, wants to keep everything traditional. When Cato (a fine Miles Hanna) offers to play Bob Cratchit, Arthur is appalled. Why? Kato is black. Arthur quickly learns that in 2024, color-blind casting is a thing. Soon, Kato is playing, not Cratchit, but Fred, Scrooge's nephew. As the play goes on, similar twists occur

True theatre aficionados will catch that Hubbard has named this theatrical family putting on the show the Cavendishes. That was the name of the theatrical family in The Royal Family, a 1930s comedy, which was supposedly a thinly disguised reference to the Barrymores. But let's get to the cast.

Every performer is a delight. R. Bruce Connelly, as Arthur, the leader of the family, wants to play Scrooge, the role of the life after decades of playing Bob Cratchit. Connelly is a master of exasperation. Sam Given, who has performed as the MC Cabaret and in other roles at the Playhouse, is touching as Edward, the son of the family. I don't want to leave anyone out. The two other ghosts, Michael Barra (James) and Victoria Bundonis (Eleanor), are also great. Eleanor is Arthur's wife, and James, his brother-in-law.

The actors of the current Playhouse staff are equally good. Don Noble brings a touching quality to the role of the actor Martin. Johanna Milani Is terrific as the costumer, Jessica. Miles Hanna is great as Cato, and Olivia Fenton is the stage manager, Stephanie, displays a lovely voice.

Hubbard includes both older and more modern songs in the show; most are not specifically holiday songs. I wish a list of the songs were in the program. But the blend of old and new goes right along with Hubbard’s approach. As usual, there is a live band.

God Bless Us, Everyone! is a delightful show. It gets the Dickens message across but also lets us enjoy the references to this venerable. Playhouse.

For tickets, visit IvorytonPlayhouse.org.