JOE EPSTEIN
Hoboken’s Mile Square Theatre presented “It’s a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play” in 2018.
I can’t really call it “nostalgia.” I wasn’t alive in the pre-television era, when radio plays were at their peak: You would listen to a drama or comedy performed by actors in the radio studio, with live sound effects helping to fill out the story. But I still feel there is a certain charm in watching a play performed this way, now, in a theater, with the actors standing at their microphones, and a visible sounds effects man or woman accomplishing their sonic miracles live — plus maybe even some corny, old-fashioned commercials, like in radio’s Golden Age.
Radio plays seem particularly popular in the holiday season, and there are many opportunities to see them in New Jersey, this year. Here is a calendar, with links.
Dec. 3-7, 9-14, 16-23 and 26-28: “It’s a Wonderful Life,” presented by Shakespeare Theater of New Jersey at F.M. Kirby Shakespeare Theatre at Drew University, Madison. Joe Landry’s 1996 adaptation of the 1946 film (based on “The Greatest Gift,” the 1943 short story by Philip Van Doren Stern).
Dec. 5-7: “It’s a Wonderful Life,” presented by American Theater Group at Sieminski Theater, Basking Ridge. Joe Landry’s 1996 adaptation. (see video below)
Dec. 6-7 and 13-14: “A Christmas Carol” at Basie Center Cinema House, Red Bank. Joe Landry’s 2015 adaptation, based on Charles Dickens’ 1843 novella.
Dec. 11-14: “It’s a Wonderful Life,” presented by American Theater Group at Union Arts Center. Same production and cast as in Basking Ridge, Dec. 5-7.
Dec. 11-14 and 18-21: “A Christmas Carol” at Mile Square Theatre, Hoboken. Joe Landry’s 2015 adaptation.
Dec. 13-14 and 20: “It’s a Wonderful Life,” presented by Bergen County Players at Little Firehouse Theatre, Oradell. Adapted by Thomas Carey Gsell from the 1947 Lux Radio Theatre broadcast.
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