Old-timey radio group Wisconsin Hybrid Theatre has carved out a pleasant little niche for itself as a group that presents fun little retro comedy shows. Set around the fictional WHT's live radio studio in the golden age of wireless, writer Charles Sommers’ scripts have a clever comic timing to them that are sharp and fast-paced. The shows are usually presented in an intimate studio theatre space. They’ve never been presented over the actual airwaves. Until now.
This Saturday December 19th (tomorrow) at 3pm in the afternoon, Wisconsin Hybrid Theatre will broadcast Sommers’ slanted take on Dickens’ A Christmas Carol on 91.7 FM--WMSE. Normally, another parody of Dickens’ classic would seem a bit hackneyed, but Sommers has had a solid track record for taking over-spoofed icons like Dracula and the Wizard of Oz and turning them into rather fresh bits of comedy.
WHT regulars like Randall T. Anderson, Jim Owczarski and Char Paulbicke are joined by the talents of Ruth Arnell, Ken Dillon and Beth Lewinski. It’s one half hours’ over-the-air comedy in the middle of the last Saturday before Christmas. The radio god Arbitron may not have occasion to notice, but this sounds like a lot of fun anyway.
