November 29 – December 8, 2013
Sponsored by Simmons First Bank of El Dorado.
Book by Walton Jones • music composted and arrainged by David Wohl • lyrics by Faye Greenberg,
Time Period – 1940s WWII.
Setting – Friday, December 24, 1943, 7:30 PM.
WOV-Radio Satellite Studio, on the lobby level of the Hotel Aberdeen, Newark New Jersey.
It’s Christmas Eve, 1943, and the Feddington Players are now broadcasting from a hole-in-the-wall studio in Newark, NJ, and set to present their contemporary “take” on Dickens’s A Christmas Carol. Whether it’s the noisy plumbing, missed cues, electrical blackouts, or the over-the-top theatrics of veteran actor, but radio novice, William St. Claire, this radio show is an entertaining excursion into the mayhem and madness of a live radio show. St. Claire’s escalating foibles and acting missteps propel the show to a simultaneously comedic and heart-wrenching dramatic climax: St. Claire has an on-air breakdown, and begins to connect his own life with that of the classic Dickens tale. In order to “save the show,” the company improvises an ending to Charles Dickens’ classic as a film noir mystery, featuring a hardboiled detective, a femme fatale, and an absurd rescue of Tiny Tim (and the Lindbergh baby) from the clutches of a Hitler-esque villain named Rudolf!
High School Musical lyricist Faye Greenberg and composer David Wohl have written four delightful period songs for the Feddington Players, and swing arrangements of many Christmas standards. Seamlessly combining drama and comedy, heartbreak and hope, A 1940’s Radio Christmas Carol will sing its way into your heart. If you enjoyed 1940’s Radio Hour, step back in time once again with the Feddington Players, and get into the holiday spirit with A 1940’s Radio Christmas Carol.
“The music was the perfect touch that nicely wrapped this pretty package of a show…A 1940s Radio Christmas Carol was just the thing I needed to stoke the holiday embers of my once-cold Christmas heart. If you’re in the mood for a sweet story, sparkling music, and a bit of nostalgia, go and see this gem before the chance of a little holiday-mood jumpstart passes you by.” – David Doyle, Edge:New York.com
“…laughs and hearty applause from every age group in attendance…chaotic and hilarious.” – Pam Hardy, The Plain Dealer/Cleveland.com
“The cast had the audience laughing in their seats.” – Alissa Klenk, The Dysart Reporter
“A 1940s Radio Christmas Carol is a charming crowd-pleaser.” – John Moore, The Denver Post
“A reading that transforms Charles Dickens’s classic into a gumshoe mystery…far above the usual holiday offerings.” – Stacy Nick, The Coloradoan
LEARN MORE ABOUT THE CAST OF CHARACTERS HERE
Photo by Daren Scott of the cast of Cygnet Theatre’s “A Christmas Carol” performed as a 1940s-era radio play.
“A 1940’s Radio Christmas Carol” is presented by special arrangement with SAMUEL FRENCH, INC.
