Emmy and Tony Award-winning actress Christine Baranski joined forces with Grammy-nominated vocal ensemble Skylark to perform a live reading of Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” at The Breakers on Friday evening.
The sold-out performance in the mansion’s Great Hall drew more than 200 people and took place on the 182nd anniversary of the story’s first publication in 1843.
Baranski, best known to many as old-money matriarch Agnes van Rhijn in HBO’s “The Gilded Age,” narrated an abridged version of the classic tale while Skylark provided musical accompaniment with traditional carols and folk songs from England, Scotland, Wales and Germany.
The Massachusetts-based choral group, which has earned four Grammy nominations for its recordings, performed pieces that matched the story’s shifting moods — from a lively vocal jig following the Fezziwig party scene to a Dies Irae chant accompanying Scrooge’s vision of his own death.
Matthew Guard, Skylark’s artistic director, conducted the ensemble and edited Dickens’ text for the performance. Benedict Sheehan produced the musical arrangements.
The event marked Baranski’s second public appearance at a Preservation Society of Newport County property. In August, she discussed her career at The Elms in a conversation moderated by Jared Bowen of GBH’s “The Culture Show.”
Baranski has filmed scenes for “The Gilded Age,” which has been renewed for a fourth season, at The Breakers, The Elms and Chateau-sur-Mer.
Photos by The Preservation Society of Newport County.
