Event Article

Fullerton College's Theater Arts Department will be presenting "The 1940s Radio Hour," a musical about a live radio broadcast in 1942,from Dec. 4 through Dec. 8 in the Bronwyn Dodson Theater.

This play is about a company of radio players who are more of a "B" team, or as director Chuck Ketter puts it, "Not necessarily NBC. It takes place at a much smaller station with a smaller frequency."

The company puts on a production called the "The Mutual Manhattan Variety Cavalcade," which features dancing, singing and comedy routines. The FC production will include the commercials that ran during the time period as well.

The audience watching this show ·will play the part of the live in-studio audience that took part in 1940s radio, as the players go into "Showtime" and put on their equivalent of an. actual, hour-long 1940s radio broadcast.

The first 20 minutes of the play show the players,musicians,stage managers and crew people arriving with the audience already in place. This provides an early development of the characters.

"In the opening section where the artists are arriving, you get some character development and you get to see the idiosyncrasies of these individuals and the relation. ships; then you get to see those relationships and how they deal with them all through out the show," Ketter said.

This show features an ensemble cast of charaters with equal importance; there isn't a male or female lead.

A variety of different personalities are provided in the play, featuring the players who are lovers offstage and how they deal with their squabble while the show is going on.

According to Ketter, there is a star of the show who has a drinking problem, "There's the crooner ala Frank Sinatra who has a severe drinking problem which throws the show into chaos."

The music selections used for the score of this particular production of "1940s Radio" are element that make it unique.

First, all of the music was re-orchestrated for this show, but it is not the music that was written for the original show.

Instead, Ketter says, "It [the music] was all standard 1940s and earlier tunes such as 'I'll be Seeing You for Christmas', 'That 'ol Black Magic and 'The Five O'clock Whistle.' All of those songs of the 1940s that were so popular."

Performing this music. will also be a new experience for the players involved as well.

"It's a different type of musical for us, because it deals with the intricacies of that style of music; including a lot of four-part harmony."

Due to budget constraints, FC theater won't. be able to recreate the on-stage orchestra that the original play was supposed to have. To circumvent this problem, Ketter, who's worked on this play before as the scenic designer, has created the illusion of an off-stage sound room for the band members to play in.

During the first 20 minutes of the play, actors dressed as orchestra members will come across the stage, carrying their instruments and go into the sound room, setting this up as part of the premise of the play.

The Theater Department chose this play because they haven't done a musical in the Bronwyn Dodson Theater in a long time. According to Ketter, "Very seldom does a musica fit in that [Bronwyn Dodson Theater] type of room. I came across this show from a prior involvement with it and said that this is a small musical and ensemble piece that could work really well in the Dodson Theater."

Overall, Ketter has described this play as "a sitcom, in a Way"

There is a naturalistic and honest style to the comedy of this show."

"The 1940s Radio Hour" will run December 4, 5,. 6 and 7 at 8 p.m., December 7 and 8 at 2 p.m. and December 8 at 7 p.m. Admission prices range from $5 to $8. Tickets are now available.The show will be held in the Bronwyn Dodson Theater located in the 1300 building .