Before the Grinch, there was Scrooge.

That famous character, and a host of others, will be portrayed in a one-man show adaptation of Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol,” by Allen Fitzpatrick for Key City Public Theatre.

There will be three showings over two days with a matinee performance at 1:30 and an evening show at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 20, and a second matinee at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 21.

Fitzpatrick’s talents have toured stages from coast to coast with 45 years on Broadway before making his way to the Pacific Northwest more than a decade ago.

While tripping the light fantastic along New York’s streets in the 1970s and following decades, Fitzpatrick’s worked alongside such notables as Andrew Lloyd-Webber, Harold Prince, Marvin Hamlisch, John Guare, and Stephen Sondheim.

The idea to do “A Christmas Carol” as a one-man show was inspired by seeing the version which Patrick Stewart had written for himself on Broadway (which won the 1992 Drama Desk for Outstanding Solo Performance).

“I thought, ‘This is great seeing this guy do all of these characters by himself,’ and I think it’s fun for an audience to see one actor who is able to do a lot of different characters and still be able to delineate one character from another and not get confused,” Fitzpatrick said.

“The language is great. It creates images that people can really sink themselves into,” he added.

While the stage is bare of other actors or set pieces, Fitzpatrick fills the space all on his own.

“I am on the move even virtually constantly during that hour changing my physicality and my vocalizations back and forth,” he said.

The lack of distractions allows the audience a chance to flex their own imagination muscle, which Fitzpatrick believes creates a deeper connection to the work.

“I think it achieves a great immediacy and a greater personal impact,” he said.

“Every audience I’ve performed it for has been utterly absorbed in it,” he added.

The play comes in at just under an hour in length with Fitzpatrick telling the tale at a constant clip.

“It’s not slowed down by the introduction of other actors or set pieces. It moves like the wind, and I think it really can pull people in very much because of that,” Fitzpatrick said.

A reading of the original work word-for-word could easily go over three hours in length.

“Which I think is a lot to ask of an audience. Perhaps in the Victorian era they had longer attention spans than they do now,” Fitzpatrick joked, noting that Dickens toured reading the work to sold out crowds.

“Wherever he went, people flocked to see him do his own solo performance of it, so I thought if that worked, I’m sure it’ll work for me trying it as well.”

To purchase tickets, go to keycitypublictheatre.org/a-christmas-carol or call the Key City Public Theatre box office at 360-285-5278.