‘Lutz Radio’ Broadcasts High Jinks

In an unusual and cheery holiday departure, the Orange Coast College theater department takes audiences back to the glory days of radio in “The Lutz Radio Theatre Holiday Show of 1947.”

Radio was probably never this helter-skelter, but director Alex Golson and his cast nicely capture the atmosphere. The show was first done a decade ago, and the script--by Golson and the casts of both this production and the 1987 one--is inventive and often very funny.

The show was modeled on the Lux Radio Theatre, which produced radio versions of hit movies. The Lutz Company, on the other hand, favors variety, and its studio has that. Things are already falling apart as the cast is about to go on the air. How they get through is a puzzler, especially when the script of their adaptation of “A Christmas Carol” is destroyed, and they have to ad-lib it.

There’s a good bit of overboard clowning, forgiven in these circumstances, but the highlights are etched with some subtlety and insight into what it was like to hear live entertainment over the airwaves.

Robert Wilson is notable for his flappable emcee, Arthur Allen, who takes a stroll down “Arthur’s Alley,” rather than “Allen’s Alley.” But Wilson is overshadowed by Jake Kandel’s smarmy and smooth announcer William La Sulle, one of those glib salesman with a barely honest cheerfulness, but whose professionalism saved the day.

There’s a charming moment when Dee Ann Brown as Katie Jones, “who has her own show in the afternoons,” sings “That Ol’ Devil Moon” and a Christmas carol with a probably unintentional nod to one of radio’s most famous singers, Vaughn de Leath, who looked nothing like the person her dulcet tones suggested. Still, she is overshadowed by a whiz-bang of a performance by Sean Henry as Johnny Romeo--unmistakably Frank Sinatra. Henry hits every bull’s-eye, from his sensual handling of his mike to his flirtations with women in the audience, and to top it off, he manages to sound very much like the young Sinatra.

A young actor named Kevin Friend jogs on every once in while to do a character role; like a solid radio actor, his versatility as Tom the Cop, the Scholastic Avenger and a Nasty Kid is not only winning but also points to a future as a voice-over actor.

The mangled Lutz adaptation of Dickens’ classic is only part of the high holiday spirits in this different take on a Christmas past.

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* “Lutz Radio Theatre Holiday Show of 1947,” Drama Lab, Orange Coast College, 2701 Fairview Road, Costa Mesa. Wednesday-Saturday, 7 p.m.; Sunday, 2 p.m. Ends Sunday. $5-$9. (714) 432-5640. Running time: 1 hours, 30 minutes.

Robert Wilson: Arthur Allen

Jake Kandel: William La Sulle

Sean Henry: Johnny Romeo

Dee Ann Brown: Katie Jones

Kevin Friend: Tom the Cop/Scholastic Avenger/Nasty Kid

An OCC Repertory Theatre Company production. Directed by Alex Golson. Musical direction: Terence Alaric. Scenic design: David Scaglione, Cynthia Corley, Alex Golson, Rick Golson. Costumes: Cynthia Corley. Stage manager: Laura Viramontes.