After 36 years of playing various characters in the classic Dickens holiday favorite, South Coast Repertory founding member and veteran actor Richard Doyle steps into the lead role of Ebenezer Scrooge in this year’s production of A Christmas Carol. Fellow thespian and Doyle’s long-time friend, Hal Landon, Jr., played the role of the miserly Scrooge for 40 years at South Coast Repertory until he uttered his last “bah humbug” and hung up his scarf in 2019. This is the theater’s 41st production of the beloved play, which had to be cancelled in 2020 due to pandemic restrictions. Over the years, Doyle has played many of A Christmas Carol’s beloved characters, including the Ghosts of Christmas Past and Present, the jovial Mr. Fezziwig, Scrooge’s nephew Fred, as well as Jeeves and Howell, the well-meaning charity solicitors. Joining him on center stage for this year’s production is his real-life wife, Jennifer Parsons, …