MHMT's A Christmas Carol: A Live Radio Play premiers tonight and runs until Dec. 10. Tickets available online at mhmtheatre.com.--NEWS PHOTO KENDALL KING
kking@medicinehatnews.com
Medicine Hat Musical Theatre’s upcoming production, A Christmas Carol: A Live Radio Play, breathes new life into a classic Holiday tale and allows audiences to focus on both the meaning of the story and the talent of the actors retelling it.
The same format as last year’s Holiday production – It’s a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play – the show is set in a 1940s New York radio broadcasting studio where a small group of voice actors gather to perform Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol live on air.
MHMT veteran Bruce Sandford leads as Freddie Filmore – who Sandford portrayed during last year’s production of It’s a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play – and Scrooge, among others.
Joining him are Tracey Avery as Lana Sherwood; Ryan Haystead as Harry Haywood; Darlene Dee as Sally Applewhite; Darren Rathwell as Jake Laurents; and Carolyn Freeman as the Foley artist Maggie Beech. Save for Freeman, each actor also plays a variety of other roles.
As well, Geoff Coley, Brenda McLauren and Colleen and John Widden star as the Volk Family Singers four-piece ensemble.
While Freeman shines in her role as the production’s Foley artist, it’s Sandford who brings the story and its meaning to life through his portrayal of Scrooge.
When the audience first meets Sandford’s Scrooge, he exhibits an apathy for others fuelled by indifference rather than hatred – which, in a way, is far more despicable.
With little narration between acts and relying largely on character narration alone, Sandford – in less than two hours – is able to take the uncaring and pitiful creature that is Scrooge and transform him into a symbol of hope and redemption.
Sandford continues to command the stage even as the story shifts back to the 1940s, but one of the production’s many strengths is that among a cast of seasoned and MHMT actors, no one person overshadows the others.
Each of the six main cast have moments of excellence – with Rathwell delivering chill-inducing cries as Bob Marley’s ghost; Haystead delighting as an English banker with a strange accent and even stranger laugh; Dee offering comfort and warning as the sagely Mrs. Fezziwig; and Avery nailing the accent of a little girl with a big Christmas list.
And when not at the mic, actors still claim space on the decked out stage, usually ambling in the background, as their voice actor characters await their next line.
In choosing a radio play format, MHMT offers audiences a new way to experience one of the world’s most beloved Christmas tales. And it’s of no question the familiarity of the story aids audience members in keeping track of what’s happening on stage while actors switch between multiple characters in vocal tone only.
Audiences can also delight in the stage, beautifully decorated and immersive, so to provide the feeling of being in the audience at the 1940s radio broadcasting studio.
And while the stage remains unchanged throughout the show, masterfully-executed changes in lighting shift the mood of the set to match that of each scene or at points all together alter the audience’s perception of it.
Overall, the play is a delightful way for Hatters of all ages to get into the spirit – or should I say ‘Spirits’ – of Christmas.
