Cantigny Park presents something familiar, but new for the holidays, an adaptation of A Christmas Carol, performed as a 1940s radio play in front of a live audience.
Tickets ($2) are on sale at Cantigny.org for two performances: Saturday, Dec. 17, at 7 p.m.; and Sunday, Dec. 18, at 11 a.m.. Parking for the one-hour inside the Cantigny Park Visitors Center is free for ticketholders.
The set for Cantigny’s version of “A Christmas Carol,” adapted and directed by Christopher Corrigan, is a vintage radio station. Audiences will enjoy a behind-the-scenes perspective as they watch a talented five-member cast cycle through multiple characters. To the side, an old-time radio sound artist will create realistic auditory effects to support the action on stage. The show is inspired by Chicago’s Theatre of the Air, a real radio program introduced by Colonel Robert McCormick on WGN in 1940.
Although the setting is a bit different, the main character’s journey is familiar. Ebeneezer Scrooge is a Chicago citizen in the 1940s and publisher of the Chicago Daily News. Guided by three memorable spirits, he will need to learn the true meaning of Christmas and goodwill to all if he is to save himself from an unforgiving future.
More information is online at Cantigny.org, including a full calendar of upcoming holiday events for families. Highlights include the Park’s Celebrate the Season festival December 3, and the annual LEGO Train Show, December 10-11.
—Cantigny Park