An original live radio broadcast, on stage.
The show
Christmas on the Dial is a full-length holiday play staged as a live 1950s Christmas Eve radio broadcast, with the audience cast as the studio audience from the moment the doors open.
The stage is split in two. On one side, radio station WMRG puts out its Christmas Eve show: two hosts at vintage microphones, a floor manager working applause placards, period sponsor spots, and a run of Christmas standards in crooner, jazz and big band style. On the other side is a present-day attic, where a group of kids has found an old radio that is somehow pulling in that broadcast, seventy years later. Maggie, the oldest, is trying to remember the one song their great-grandfather played every Christmas Eve, and the broadcast plays everything but that one. A narrator in an armchair carries the audience through both worlds.
Every number the hosts don’t sing is a featured solo spot, which a company can cast from its own roster or fill with local guests. There is an optional school choir spot in each act. The cast is four principals, an early-teen lead, and a flexible pool of younger children with mostly non-speaking parts, so one child missing a performance does not break the show. Audience sing-alongs and a moment on stage for children from the audience are built in.
About two hours, with one intermission.
For organizations and venues
This show has a very light technical requirement. Professionally licensed backing tracks and other audio cues are provided, along with detailed tech instructions. No live band or pit is needed. The lighting plot is effective but relatively simple. There is a need for 3 body-worn mics if you have them; otherwise there are other suitable options. The show was written so that most rehearsals can be “modular”; the various modules can be rehearsed in small break-out groups outside of the theater, and really only needs 1 night of full company rehearsal, plus a separate tech/dress rehearsal. Licensing of the script and performance rights are reasonable and are obtained directly from the author.
For nonprofit organizations there is more on offer than a script. Christmas on the Dial can be booked as a complete holiday fundraiser, with the author on site as producer and director, playing the radio host, and a Production Playbook covering sponsorship, ticketing, marketing and auditions. Your organization brings the community and the venue. Everything else comes with it.