Holiday favorites with a few twists from local theaters
Luis: I’m Luis Hernandez, and this is the Public’s Radio. Artscape producer James Baumgartner is here with me to talk about a few of the holiday season performances that are happening around the area. Hi James.
James: Hi Luis. We have four different productions to talk about. Let’s start with It’s a Wonderful Life at The Gamm Theatre.
Luis: I love the movie It’s A Wonderful Life, and there are not a lot of movies from the pre-1970s that I love. When I got the chance to watch the theatrical performance at the Gamm last year, I was curious about how they were going to bring this story to life. I was pleasantly surprised. They perform this as a live radio performance like the old radio plays in the 20s and 30s.
Luis: You know I love the technical aspects of a stage performance. And this show does an amazing job of creating a radio studio environment – something you and I know well. The actors move back and forth from their seated positions to the microphone to perform their parts, and the way they move around the stage is seamless, recreating the feel of a radio play.
James: Back in 2020, we worked with The Gamm to present this as a radio play on the air since they weren’t able to do live performances during the height of the pandemic. Here’s a little excerpt from that.
Luis: That excerpt shows one of the really fun parts of the show: the sound effects performer. This part is without lines, yet this person is like the show’s conductor. They’re off in the corner of the stage behind a table of objects, each used beautifully to create the sounds for the radio play. You forget they’re up there because they’re so good at creating the sounds that accompany the story.
James: And they did the same for our on-air version, using those objects to help create the atmosphere of the play.
Luis: The show was absolutely lovely and a fun time. It goes by rather quickly. But, it’s worth the experience. You can see It’s A Wonderful Life at the Gamm Theatre in Warwick through Christmas Eve.
Taavon Gamble as The Ghost of Christmas Present, with the children’s cast members Lily Altomari and Lou Weschler Credit: PHOTO BY MARK TUREK COURTESY OF TRINITY REPJames: Trinity Rep is putting on their 47th production of A Christmas Carol this year. And they reimagine it every year. This year’s version is directed by company member Steven Thorne. In the program notes, Thorne says, “Isolation is really on my mind this year. Scrooge is so isolated – he’s isolated himself. Every human being on the planet has such a visceral experience of isolation as a result of the pandemic. We have been changed because of it. I think that adds a different lens on how we receive what it means to not be able to connect to people.” You can see A Christmas Carol at Trinity Rep now through December 31st.
The cast of “Mrs. Bob Cratchit’s Wild Christmas Binge” at Contemporary Theater Company Credit: REDIT: SETH JACOBSON PHOTOGRAPHYLuis: And if you want a completely different take on the Scrooge story, you can check out “Mrs. Bob Cratchit’s Wild Christmas Binge” at Contemporary Theater Company in Wakefield. This play centers on a minor character from A Christmas Carol – Mrs. Bob Cratchit. Instead of being the dutiful wife, she’s sick and tired of the 21 kids in the household and she’s not going to hide it anymore. And the Ghost of Christmas Past is trying to show Scrooge the various events of his life, but the ghost’s magic doesn’t work and they keep ending up at the Cratchit house. So it’s a real send-up of the Scrooge story and other Christmas Traditions. You can see it at Contemporary Theater in Wakefield through December 23rd.
(from 2021) Yury Yanowsky with Nutcracker Mask, Erminio Pinque with Rat King mask Credit: PHOTO BY DYLAN GILES COURTESY OF BALLET RIJames: And finally, there’s Ballet Rhode Island’s performance of The Nutcracker. In 2021, they changed the masks worn by the Nutcracker and the Rat King. It was a collaboration with Erminio Pinque of Big Nazo, known for creating scary and grotesque monsters that are also kind of endearing. Here’s Erminio describing the Rat King:
Erminio Pinque: So I really wanted to incorporate that sense of organic gristle. So the mouse has a real kind of furrowed brow and kind of a snarl expression. But it also isn’t hateful or monstrous, you know, it’s basically the way a rat would look like if it were about to eat something delicious maybe or gnawing its way out of a closet or something.
James: You can see Ballet Rhode Island’s production of The Nutcracker at The Vets December 15th through Christmas Eve.
The Gamm Theatre, Trinity Repertory Company and Ballet RI are corporate underwriters of The Public’s Radio. The Public’s Radio coverage and editorial decisions are made independent of business support.
The post Holiday favorites with a few twists from local theaters appeared first on TPR: The Public's Radio.
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free