STAGE REVIEW : Lack of Talent Pulls Plug on ‘Radio Hour’

It’s not even Thanksgiving yet, but already the first Christmas play of the season has weighed in.

Are we lucky? No, we are not.

This is hardly a heavy weigh-in at the North Coast Repertory Theatre.

“The 1940’s Radio Hour,” by UCSD professor Walton Jones, is so light-headed and fragile in concept that it dissolves like so many snowflakes in front of a fire.

The setting is a live radio broadcast from New York on Dec. 21, 1942, and revolves around the lives of the producers, performers and stage hands. Cliched character sketches take up a lot of our time, but they are not the heart of the show. They seem to exist just to perform more than a dozen period songs, the show’s real star. The cast also does live ads and comedy sketches.

This approach might have worked--if more than one of them could sing.

Nostalgia alone might have carried the show had the casting been right. This show needs singers who can belt and croon solos in 1940s style as if they are stars. Instead, what we have is a cast ranging from non-singers trying to act the part of vocalists to novice singers who lack force in delivery. The bumpy musical direction by Don Le Master doesn’t help, either.

But, with the exception of Tracy M. Hughes, who belts out a memorable “I Got It Bad and That Ain’t Good” as singer Geneva Lee Browne, there is no one who can really sell a song. And that ain’t good. To the performers’ credit, however, they do better on the harmonies.

Director Daniel Yurgaitis, who also did the choreography, keeps the pace frenetic. In part, that’s in keeping with the chaotic feeling on the set of a live program. But it also seems a vain attempt to cover up the hollows at the center of this talent pool. And there is no amount of funny business that can cover that up.

Gary Seger, with experience in radio announcing, seems well cast as radio producer Clifton A. Feddington. But, when they give him a song to sing? Please. Likewise, Stanley Madruga, a very funny actor, had no business being cast as lead singer Johnny Cantone. Even if Johnny is a drunk and a has-been, he should at least have the semblance of a good voice--producers don’t keep stars on for charity.

Another piece of mystery casting is Michael Collins, who is called on to play a trumpet and sing as band member Biff Baker. He does neither with any authority.

Supporting singers Sarah Lang (as the hot platinum-blonde Ginger Brooks) and Michele Aimee Moore (as the prissy schoolgirl Connie Miller) have adequate voices, but both are undercut by John-Bryan Davis’ costumes and wigs. Davis, who has had finer moments in other productions, has the supposedly sexy Brooks looking downright dowdy in a somber navy blue dress and a wig that looks like it is weighing down her head.

Miller, meanwhile, who is carrying on a romance with lead-singer-to-be B.J. Gibson (John Grzesiak), is unattractively adorned in a white blouse and skirt with mousy brown locks.

Only Nicole Santina as singer Ann Collier looks elegant in a period-perfect hairdo wearing a sleek black number with slits up her sleeves.

A good sense of atmosphere is provided by the rest of the ensemble--which has its strength in the acting department. Some nice light-footed dance numbers thrown in by Grzesiak are also a plus.

But the best part of the show is the grittily authentic set and lighting by Ocie Robinson. That alone may bring back memories. The current talk of war in the Middle East may also bring back thoughts of the conflicts of 1942. But does the play have anything to say besides that? Maybe just this:

Even though the North Coast is a non-Equity (non-union) company, it needs to look harder for talent. San Diego is a city that has a lot of fine amateur voices that should have been able to handle this material. And, if the talent wasn’t there, this show shouldn’t have been, either.

“THE 1940’s RADIO HOUR”

By Walton Jones. Directed and choreographed by Daniel Yurgaitis. Musical direction, Don Le Master. Set and lighting, Ocie Robinson. Costumes and wigs, John-Bryan Davis. With Larry Corodemas, Leonard Patton, Gary Seger, Don Le Master, John Christopher Guth, James Marshall Bradford, Stanley Madruga Jr., Sarah Lang, Michele Aimee Moore, John Grzesiak, Todd Pickering, Nicole Santina, Tracy M. Hughes and Michael Collins. At 8 p.m. Thursday-Saturday, 7 p.m. Sundays, with Sunday matinees at 2, through Dec. 31. Tickets are $10-$14. At 987-D Lomas Santa Fe Drive, Solana Beach, 481-1055.