Comin' Uptown Hines, Gregory performer Theatrical Performance 1979-12-20 Winter Garden Theater A musical in two acts, 13 scenes. Book by Philip Rose and Peter Udell. Based on "A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens. Music by Garry Sherman. Lyrics by Peter Udell. Directed by Philip Rose. Choreographed by Michael Peters. Associate choreographer, Frances Lee Morgan. Opened 20 December 1979 at the Winter Garden and closed 27 January 1980 after 45 performances. "A Christmas Carol in Harlem." Starring Gregory Hines as Scrooge, a heartless slum landlord. Hines' roof-raising dances were not enough to sustain the show. "The crusher for me, finally, came with chor. Michael Peter's decision to keep Mr. Hines' antic feet under wraps until we were practically ready to go home. The performer does do a bit of period strutting during that first backward trek to his youth...At last, all too late, Scrooge is back in his dingy room and, a reformed fellow now, he leaps into uncontrollable jubilation. There's no one to obscure him, not even one more ghost, and he takes to his freedom like a riveter gone mad, spitting taps against the floor while his body slips dangerously sideways, staggering with unaccountable glee in the rhythms of a gangster being gunned down. He even keeps the delirium going while he's pretending to tap on his bed clothes. Perfectly splendid, and couldn't he have made us happier earlier?" (Walter Kerr New York Times 21 Dec 1979 C5) Raymond Patterson in the ensemble; Hines receives a 1980 Tony Award Nomination for Best Actor in a Musical. (Walter Kerr, "Stage: Sccrooge Struts In Comin' Uptown" New York Times 21 December 1979 C5.) Performing Arts Encyclopedia http://www.loc.gov/performingarts Bordman, Gerald: American Musical Theatre: A Chronicle. New York: Oxford University Press (1992). Internet Broadway Database: Internet Broadway Database. http://www.ibdb.com/ (). Norton Anthology of Drama: Norton Anthology of Drama: Nineteenth Century to the Present (Vol. 2). W.W. Norton & Company (2009). Tap Dance America http://lcweb2.loc.gov/diglib/ihas/html/tda/tda-home.html Gregory Hines (biography) loc.music.tdabio.106 tda IHAS 151216 loc.music.tda.1499