The 1940's Radio Hour

The 1940's Radio Hour opens Thursday night at 7:30pm. The show is the first production of the 2010-2011 season for The Center Players Community Theatre. Show dates and times are Thursday through Saturday, August 26-28 at 7:30pm and there is a matinee at 2:30pm on Saturday. The show will take place in the Ridgeland High School Auditorium, 586 Sunnybrook Road, where there is plenty of parking. The theatre has a big stage and nice, comfortable seats. Tickets are $12 for adults and $10 for seniors and students. To see the cast and crew visit, www.centerplayers.net and you can call the theatre's phone for more information, 601-953-0181.

The 1940's Radio Hour takes place on December 21, 1942 at a low power radio station in New York City called WOV. The backdrop is WWII and the talent at the radio station is preparing to do a live radio broadcast. If you're a fan of music of the 1940's, you'll love this show. You'll recognize some old standards like Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy From Company B and That Old Black Magic. Since the show takes place just before Christmas there are Christmas songs like Jingle Bells and Merry Little Christmas.

Here's a complete list of songs in the show:
1. I Got a Gal From Kalamazoo
2. Pepsi Cola
3. Daddy
4. Love Is Here To Stay
5. That Old Black Magic
6. Ain't She Sweet
7. How About You
8. Blue Moon - Neal
9. Chiquita Banana
10. Rose of the Rio Grande
11. I'll Never Smile Again
12. Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy
13. Blues in the Night
14. Jingle Bells
15. I Got It Bad
16. You Go To My Head
17. The Five O'Clock Whistle
18. Merry Little Christmas
19. Strike Up The Band
20. I'll Be Seeing You
21. Mutual Manhattan Variety Cavalcade

Here's a synopsis of the show:
The 1940’s Radio Hour takes the audience on a nostalgic trip down memory lane into a backdrop of the second World War, setting the stage for swinging big band music and old fashioned situation comedy of a bygone period. It takes place in a small 5000-watt New York City radio station (WOV) located in the Hotel Astor’s Algonquin Room around Christmastime 1942 and is centered around a group of performers and their attempts to make it to the “big time” in show biz. There is a wide selection of stock characters of various ages such as the harried producer, the delivery boy who aspires to stardom, the torch singer who raises temperatures in the studio, the alcoholic featured male vocalist and the kindly elderly man who has seen everything and understands everyone. The radio program, the Mutual Manhattan Variety Cavalcade, is seen through the eyes of the theatre audience who become the actual radio station audience.