BEDFORD PARK — City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito will get a promotion Thursday when she plays the mayor in a sold-out hybrid holiday play that mixes "Annie" and "A Christmas Carol."
The play, "Scrooge: A Christmas Story," focuses on a rich landlord named Scrooge who was orphaned as a child and adopted by a wealthy family. It will be put on by the East Harlem Repertory Theater Company at Lehman College.
After his family passes away, Scrooge decides to sell the orphanage that they own and replace it with a development, leaving the children who live there with nowhere to go.
Mark-Viverito will have several lines in the play, and her role is to convince Scrooge not to shut down the orphanage.
"Have you no shame? Is nothing sacred?" she tells Scrooge.
This will be Mark-Viverito's second time in the play, as she made her debut in a performance about three years ago, director John Ruiz said.
"I guess she had a great Christmas spirit that time of the year, and she said she would do it," said John Ruiz, director of the show. "We welcome her."
However, because she is now the City Council Speaker, her role has been beefed up.
"She'll have more lines now that she's the speaker," said Clark Pena, a spokesman for the play.
"Scrooge" has gone on annually for about five years, but this will be the first year that it comes to The Bronx.
The play had previously taken place in Brooklyn and Queens, and the production company added a show at Lehman College this year because it was getting so many calls from schools in other boroughs that wanted to bring children to the show, according to Pena.
"Scrooge" will take place at 10:30 a.m. Thursday in the Lehman College Concert Hall, and tickets have already sold out.
Close to 3,000 children are expected to attend, all of whom will receive a free toy from the production.
"I am thrilled to be participating once again in this fun and festive holiday tradition and to be distributing toys to children in the neighborhood,” Mark-Viverito said in a statement.
Ruiz has had prior experience directing politicians, as he recently helped former Mayor David Dinkins play himself in "Mandela," a play about the life of Nelson Mandela that came out last weekend.
"That was great," Ruiz said. "I mean, the response was phenomenal."
He hopes to continue directing politicians, possibly at the federal level instead of the local.
"Who’s next? Maybe President Obama. I don't know," he said. "That would be cool."
