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MARIANNE COMBS: Tomorrow night is opening night for the Guthrie theater's 43rd production of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol. It is a perennial holiday favorite for families. For many children, it's their first exposure to real-life theater.

And then there are the children on stage. 10-year-old Sophie Jones is playing the part of Tiny Tim this year, and our Marianne Combs went out to find out just how much work, and fun, is involved in taking on that iconic role.

SPEAKER: Good to meet you, John.

SPEAKER: And you.

MARIANNE COMBS: Back in mid-October, the cast and crew of A Christmas Carol met for the first time in the Guthrie's main rehearsal room. It's a festive occasion, with more than 100 people involved. For Sophie Jones and her parents, it's a chance to get to know the people she'll be working with for the next 2.5 months.

SPEAKER: Good. We have an older sister, so it gives me perspective.

SOPHIE JONES: She's in seventh grade.

MARIANNE COMBS: After hearing from the show's creative team, the cast gets right to it, reading the script together for the first time. Sophie sits just a few chairs down from Nat Fuller, a Guthrie veteran who's playing Ebenezer Scrooge.

SPEAKER: Here me, Ebenezer, for my time is nearly gone.

NAT FULLER: I will, Jacob. I will. But please, don't be too hard on me.

MARIANNE COMBS: Sophie snacks on Goldfish crackers and follows along, waiting patiently for her first real line, which comes toward the end of act one.

ALL: Merry Christmas.

SOPHIE JONES: God bless us, everyone.

MARIANNE COMBS: It's not uncommon for theaters to cast girls to play boys. Girls tend to develop their language skills faster. While Sophie has been in three community theater productions, this is her first time working with a professional theater, and she's starting pretty close to the top.

The Guthrie is considered a flagship theater of the Midwest. Her parents, Anne and Tony, are working hard to make it happen. The Joneses live in Chaska. Getting Sophie to rehearsal takes 45 minutes on a good day. The cast rehearses six days a week.

SOPHIE JONES: Please, please, please, please?

SPEAKER: Dad, can you take me to gymnastics?

MARIANNE COMBS: On a recent Monday night, Sophie's one night off, she and her older sister, Zoe, argue over what to do after dinner. Zoe wants to go to gymnastics, but Sophie would rather go to a 4H costume party.

SOPHIE JONES: I know where mine is. It's in my room in my closet.

MARIANNE COMBS: Most kids would complain about 14-hour days divided between school and rehearsals. But Sophie?

SOPHIE JONES: I love it. It's so fun, because just all the people you get to meet and the fun experience it is.

MARIANNE COMBS: She admits there are frustrations.

SOPHIE JONES: Sometimes it's hard when they-- you have this all memorized, this whole dance memorized, and then they kind of just change it on you. And you're just like, OK, now I just have to get that out of my mind.

MARIANNE COMBS: Sophie is fifth in a family of six kids. None of her siblings have taken to theater the way she has. Pretty much every dinner party at the Joneses house ends with Sophie putting on a show with her karaoke setup.

SOPHIE JONES: Oh yeah. I put that upstairs and then I would stand on the coffee table and sing.

MARIANNE COMBS: Sophie's parents are more soft spoken.

SPEAKER: Sophie has a gift that we don't have.

SPEAKER: I would rather die than stand up on a theater and speak, sing, dance, act, because I really can't do any of those.

MARIANNE COMBS: Sophie has been singing and dancing since she was a toddler. When she was eight, she was cast as Noah for a church play. Her parents have supported her with voice lessons.

And when she landed a part in a community theater production, they both helped out with the show, and took Sophie to auditions for A Christmas Carol, thinking the audition itself would be good practice. When Sophie was then cast, her parents worried she might not be ready. But they also knew it was a fabulous opportunity.

SPEAKER: I'm blown away the things she tells me that she's working on and what she's learning. And reading these staff members' bios at the Guthrie, it is just amazing to see what she is getting to experience through this.

MARIANNE COMBS: One of the people Sophie gets to work with is vocal coach Lucinda Holshue, who helps Sophie with her British accent and with projecting.

LUCINDA HOLSHUE: Working with her to slow down, to really ground her energy, teaching her a vocal warm up, teaching her how to lift the ends of lines. But she already has so much natural presence and radiance that it's been a very pleasurable task.

MARIANNE COMBS: Holscher says Sophie might be new to professional theater, but she's bringing a lot of natural talent with her.

She's not self-conscious at all when she's doing the work. And she's very committed to getting it exactly right. And it would be great to see her, in my opinion, move up through other roles as she gets older.

[KIDS SINGING]

MARIANNE COMBS: There's a lot of downtime during rehearsals, especially for the 12 kids in the production. The girls have their own dressing room. They bring coloring books and games to play, and decorate their changing stations. They bring their own snacks, but they're not allowed to eat any candy during rehearsals. Sophie says that part can be hard.

SOPHIE JONES: My energy sometimes gets like when can we leave? I'm so tired. It's kind of just like, OK, when are we going to be done? So I try to keep myself motivated. Sometimes I just walk around, I get a drink of water, I go to the bathroom.

MARIANNE COMBS: Abby [? Luttrell ?] is one of three child supervisors who are charged with accompanying the kids whenever they aren't on stage. She keeps track of their entrances and exits, and makes sure they don't get too out of hand.

[? ABBY LUTTRELL: ?] I think kids have to be very motivated to commit to a schedule like this. Adults have to be motivated to commit to a schedule like this. But we do try very hard to make sure that it's fun and a safe environment.

MARIANNE COMBS: At the start of rehearsals, Sophie had long, curly hair. But a Guthrie hairdresser cut it so that it now hangs just above her shoulders. Over the weeks, she's learned to walk with a crutch and a leg brace. It's hard to overstate just how much A Christmas Carol has become Sophie's world. So it's a good thing that she likes the story.

SOPHIE JONES: I like how it's like the story of redemption, in that it's cool how Scrooge turns from this mean, nasty person to this nice, generous person.

MARIANNE COMBS: While Sophie might not have that many lines, she recognizes that Tiny Tim is at the heart of the production. Without him, there would be no Christmas Carol.

ALL: Cast and crew of A Christmas Carol, the call is five minutes. Five minutes until places for the top of the show. Five minutes, please.

MARIANNE COMBS: As Sophie makes her way backstage for the first preview, her voice rings out in a prerecorded announcement for the audience, complete with British accent.

SOPHIE JONES: Please turn off your mobile at this time. Thank you and enjoy the show.

MARIANNE COMBS: And then it's showtime. The cast of A Christmas Carol takes to the stage in the opening act. A spotlight shines down on Sophie as she sings.

SOPHIE JONES: (SINGING) [INAUDIBLE] little tiny child.

MARIANNE COMBS: The next two hours fly by. Soon, it is Christmas morning, Scrooge has found redemption, and lifts Tiny Tim upon his shoulders.

ALL: And so as Tiny Tim observed this.

SOPHIE JONES: God bless us, everyone.

(SINGING) We wish you a Merry Christmas

We wish you a Merry Christmas

ALL: (SINGING) We wish you a Merry Christmas

And a happy New Year

10-year-old Sophie Jones has successfully completed her first full professional performance in front of a live audience. That's one down, 55 more to go. Covering the arts, I'm Marianne Combs, Minnesota Public Radio News.

SPEAKER: A Christmas Carol opens tonight and runs through December 30 at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis.

[APPLAUSE]