A Radio Christmas Carol
Season 06, Episode 05
December 20, 2018
Our community holiday tradition continues
Re-Imagined Radio presents Metropolitan Performing Arts actors and other community volunteers, like Vancouver Mayor Anne McEnerny-Ogle, performing "A Radio Christmas Carol" at Kiggins Theatre, Vancouver, Washington.
Access the episode script
Background
Charles Dickens published his novella, A Christmas Carol, December 19, 1843. He was thirty three. His story of goodness and hope has never been out of print since and has morphed to other media forms, like stage plays, motion pictures, and radio.
Lionel Barrymore was one of America's greatest stage and screen actors. He was also a fine radio actor. Perhaps his most enduring radio role was as Ebenezar Scrooge, one he played again and again from 1934 until his death in 1954. His 1939 performance, for The Campbell Playhouse, is considered his best. The classic performance of this timeless tale.
Production
Contents
Our performance is based on the December 24, 1939 performance, for The Campbell Playhouse, with Lionel Barrymore as Scrooge, Orson Welles as the narrator, and the actors of The Mercury Theatre on the Air. This one is considered by critics and radio historians as Barrymore's best (Wichman). The classic performance of this timeless tale.
Works Cited
Wichman, Craig. Standing In the Spirit at Your Elbow: A History of Dicken's Christmas Carol as
Radio/Audio Drama. BearManor Media, 2012.
Cast
Barbara Richardson as the Announcer and Mrs. Cratchit
John F. Barber as the Narrator
Jeffrey Puukka as Ebenezer Scrooge
Larry Taylor as Bob Cratchit and Fezziwig
Ian Hanley as the Charity Gentleman and Ghost of Christmas Past
Greg Shilling as Nephew Fred, Young Scrooge, 1st Man, and Man on the Street
Steve Becker as Ghost of Marley and 2nd Man
Arianna Dorenbosch as Belle, young girl, and Beggar on the Street
Anne McEnerny-Ogle as Ghost of Christmas Present
Norah Skogen as Martha Cratchit
Emerson Skogen as Goose Person and Tiny Tim
Credits
Promotional Graphic by Betsy Hanrahan
Adapted, Produced, and Hosted by John F. Barber
Significance
This is the sixth year offering "A Radio Christmas Carol" as a live, community performance. And the second year Re-Imagined Radio collaborated with Metropolitan Performing Arts, based in Vancouver, Washington, to offer a live, community performance of "A Christmas Carol" at Kiggins Theatre.
Producer's Notes
A live performance at Kiggins Theatre, Vancouver, Washington.
Audience count: 270.
Broadcast and streamed on KXRW.FM (Vancouver, WA) and KXRY.FM (XRAY.FM, Portland, OR).
— John F. Barber
Promotion
Press
"A Radio Christmas Carol." The Columbian, Weekend Section, 14 Dec. 2018, p. 26.
Graphics
Photo Gallery
Photography by N.E.H. Photography
