The holiday season is in full swing, and that means the annual re-appearance of holiday film classics such as “It’s a Wonderful Life”, “A Christmas Story”, “Elf”, “Bad Santa”, and one of my very favorites – “Miracle on 34th Street”.
Those of you who are not old-time radio fans, might not know that the original 1947 film, starring Maureen O’Hara, John Payne, Edmund Gwenn, and a very young Natalie Wood, was adapted for the Lux Radio Theater and performed live on-air on December 22nd of that year.
And 76 years later, it’s finally coming to Portland, thanks to the folks at Fake Radio, the nation's premiere old-time-radio comedy troupe. Fake Radio will re-create, live on stage, the original 1947 broadcast, including the commercials, just as it was done then, with actors on stage, holding their scripts, and standing before microphones. But unlike the original production, the Fake Radio actors occasionally go off-script, especially for the commercials, much to the delight of the audience.
The only Portland performance of Fake Radio’s “Miracle on 34th Street” takes place this Sunday, December 3rd at Ecotrust’s Irving Street Studio in Portland. We’re fortunate to have Fake Radio’s artistic director, David Koff, and two of the cast members here with us to preview the show -- actor/writer/producer Jonathan Stark (co-creator of the sitcom "According to Jim") and actress Lynne Stewart (who, among many other credits, played Miss Yvonne on "Peewee's Playhouse").
- KBOO