There was a controversy at my local theatre. An innovative artistic director decided to have some (not all) performances of A Christmas Carol played by a female Scrooge. Unfortunately, I didn't find out until after the fact but one of the staff I became friendly with informed me that they received a lot of complaints. Yes, Dickens wrote Scrooge as a male but it's art, right? What's wrong with switching to a female role for a few performances to shake things up? I wrote to the artistic director and commended him for taking a chance and said I'd love the opportunity to witness a female Scrooge if they were ever willing to try again.