RadioScrooge

RADIO SCROOGE: A GREAT SHOW TO WATCH WITH YOUR EYES CLOSED

Hyde Park Theatre,

through December 20, 1997

Running Time: 1 hr, 30 min

I have an aversion to Dickens' A Christmas Carol. It started when my father was Fezziwig in a production at the Pittsburgh Playhouse and yours truly got roped into running lights. Between Thanksgiving and Christmas, I must have seen the silly thing 40 times, enough to destroy any spark of enjoyment in even the most die-hard Dickens fan. I scrupulously avoid any holiday special based on the plot. I refuse to sit through any movie like Bill Murray's Scrooged. Just can't do it.

So how in the hell did I find myself going to Radio Scrooge, a play that any remotely conscious person would have realized was based on the aforementioned novel? It's hard to believe, but I didn't make the connection until my date for the evening, who knows my general avoidance of any script with three Christmas ghosts, asked if I was feeling okay. Then like a big, fat Christmas goose, it hit me and I steeled myself for a few hours in a personal hell. You can see why I was amazed when I left Hyde Park Theatre with an itch to run to the nearest bookstore to buy a copy of this ubiquitous holiday classic.

It's not that this production by The Company and ONSTAGE Productions is full of big special effects or does something revolutionary with the concept. In fact, quite the opposite. Radio Scrooge is charming in its simplicity. The show takes place in a 1940s radio studio, with the actors reading, pages in hand, the story into three microphones. Shenanigans occur during the performance and are a nice touch, but they are in no way related to the plot of the show. There is no second storyline, no concept of the relationships between the actors, and that's just fine.

I repeatedly forget just how good Dickens actually was, but productions like this one and last summer's Tale of Two Cities, keep reminding me. J. Damian Gillen's adaptation retains all the flavor of the text without bogging the show down with useless information. All the actors have rich voices and use them with skill and panache. Craig Kanne's comic bits of business with his plethora of characters contrasts well with Travis Dean's staid narrator. Michael Stuart's sound effects, produced onstage by a variety of implements, work well with the radio play theme.

In fact, this is a great show to watch with your eyes closed, not a recommendation that I've ever made despite the fact that I have occasionally been tempted to. Granted, it is fun to watch the sight gags that have been worked into the script, but they are simply icing on an already tasty cake.

I suppose this would be the perfect time to admit that my dislike for this story was, in a word, misguided. But I just can't. You try watching the same show every night, twice a day on weekends, for five weeks without wanting to smash Tiny Tim with his own tiny crutch. Radio Scrooge, however, is the perfect reminder of why this book became a classic cautionary tale with warm, fuzzy heart wrapped in holly and ribbons.

-- Adrienne Martini

December 1997

Produced in association with The Company

RADIO SCROOGE

an adaptation of Charles Dickens'

A Christmas Carol

directed by J. Damian Gillen

Jackie Belvin .....Fan, Belle Martha Crachit, Miss Crow

Travis Dean.....Narrator

J. Damian Gillen.....Bob Crachit, Fezziwig

Craig Kanne.....Charity Men, Fred, Marley, Present, Old Joe, Tiny Tim

Helen Merino.....Ghost of Christmas Past, Mrs. Crachit, Millie, Mrs. Dilber