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Carole Mikita ReportingThe Utah Shakespearean Festival has started a new holiday tradition, leaning this time to a most famous work of Charles Dickens.
Charles Osgood coined the phrase, 'see you on the radio', now it's Fred Adams' turn. He and his staff at the Utah Shakespearean Festival have produced a show they hope catches on for holidays to come, a 1940s radio version of Dickens "A Christmas Carol" with Adams as Ebeneezer Scrooge.
Fred Adams, "A Christmas Carol: On the Air: “I think I’m probably doing more a Jim Carrey Grinch-Scrooge, than a Kelsey Grammar.”
The show was the brainchild of festival regulars Peter Sham and Brad Carroll.
Peter Sham: "In a parking lot we sort of said, 'Let's do something' and it snowballed.”
Brad Carroll "We heard that the festival was maybe thinking about a Christmas thing."
Volunteers and the audience were drafted as part of the show, responding to the applause sign and watching the technician create sound effects, just like in the old days.
In the middle of the play there is a pause for sponsors, the news and more.
Dickens didn't create all of these characters, but festival organizers say including so many townsfolk is a way of sending the best kind of message.
"A Christmas Carol: On the Air" has four performances Dec. 11th, 13th, 17th and 18th in Cedar City.
