Ring-a-ding-ding! Bring back those fat tinsel garlands and jellied holiday salads.
Red Deer College is serving up a vintage slice of Christmas, with a side order of nostalgia, in its Retro Radio Christmas Review — at least for anyone who remembers the mid-20th century and its classic shows.
This fun Review takes place in a radio station, circa 1950. The wood-panelled, mid-century ambiance is complete with light-up ‘On The Air’ and ‘Applause’ signs. But to appease 21st-century audiences with short attention spans and cravings for visual stimulation, this radio station also has large screens upon which images are flashed to complement the story lines.
Although the actors speak into standing mics as old-school radio plays are performed live in two alternating evenings of entertainment— there’s nary a dull moment in this production, directed by Tom Bradshaw.
For when the actors aren’t ‘live-on-air,’ they can be seen celebrating the season in the on-stage green room.
Two different sets of plays are being rotated on alternate nights for the first half of the Review. The constant is a comic, bizarre version of A Christmas Carol, (Jughead as the Ghost of Christmas Past?), which will be presented in the second half of each performance.
Thursday’s dress rehearsal began with a goofy story line about Archie Andrews (Brett Nixon), Jughead (Jared Baker) and the Riverdale gang going last-minute Christmas shopping and meeting a snooty, meddlesome floorwalker (Christian Goodchild) at Stacy’s Department Store.
Then, the gee-whiz family from Father Knows Best went on an ill-fated tree-chopping expedition after son Bud (Jayden Baldry), daughters Betty and Katy (Kai Hall and Alex Creedon) and Mother Margaret (Aimbree Sweetgrass) gave Father Jim (James Walker) reason to think they’d forgotten the meaning of Christmas. (Warning: This story can still make parents cry).
The second-year student actors did an amazing job of bringing familiar characters to life — from Caleb Harrison channelling Lionel Barrymore as Scrooge, to Ethan Olsvik narrating as Orson Welles.
This is one of the uniformly best-acted RDC plays in a while. All 17 cast members created dynamic portrayals by focusing on vocal characterizations. (Nixon’s portrayal of the nerdy, freckle-faced Archie includes a voice that’s as high as we imagine it to be.)
On-stage sound effects and live music are other reasons to see Retro Radio Christmas Review. Bottom line? It’s an entertaining throw-back to Christmases Past. Whether you lived through the era or not, you will leave with a fuzzy, warm feeling.
On Nov. 23, Nov. 29, Dec. 1., and matinees on Nov. 24 and Dec. 2, Lucille Ball and the Dragnet crew will get into their own holiday high-jinx. (The Archie, Father Knows Best shows are on Nov 24, 28, 30, Dec. 2 and matinees on Nov. 25 and Dec. 1.)
Tickets are from the Black Knight Ticket Centre.
lmichelin@reddeeradvocate.com
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