Get in the Christmas Spirit! MRS. SCROOGE--A new musical based on Charles Dickens' classic, "A Christmas Carol" but with a twist: the genders are reversed. It can be produced with a cast as small as 15 or as large as 50, with leads and minor leads for children, teens and adults--plus many small roles for chorus members. All of the major leads--and many of the minor leads--are female, making it an excellent vehicle for male-short community and school theatre. While this version reverses the genders of the main characters, this doesn't change the title lead's stinginess or displeasure for the Yuletide season. This new musical bends tradition to offer family audiences a female Ebenezer and a female Bob Cratchit. Penny- pinching tycoon Eliza Tupper, a widow whose sour disposition has earned her the nickname "Mrs. Scrooge", learns charity and gratitude not just from the spirited visits by four ghosts but also from Mary Jane, her newly arrived orphan niece, and her kindly housekeeper, Francine, the female equivalent of "Bob Cratchit." Aunt Eliza decides that an orphanage would make the best home for Mary Jane. Fortunately for MJ, Francine persuades the old grouch to let her niece stay with her for the holidays. After Aunt Eliza has a quartet of ghostly visitors, her outlook changes. The character of "Tiny Tim" is replaced by Francine's husband who was injured in a factory accident. There's also a hilariously forced romance between Francine's eldest daughter, Patricia, and a redcap who befriends her family. Warmly familiar, Reiser's songs fit the story like tinsel on the holiday tree. Packed with humor and compassion, this show is truly in the "spirit" of the season.