‘1940’s Radio Hour’ Thrives in World of Chaos

It’s Dec. 21, 1942, and America has a particularly bad case of holiday blues as its troops fight overseas. Seeking an hour’s relief, folks are tuning in by the thousands to the weekly radio broadcast of “The Mutual Manhattan Variety Cavalcade.”

Little can they imagine the chaos erupting in the Manhattan studio where the live broadcast is about to begin, nor the magic that will occur as the show’s singers, comics and instrumentalists take to the air on a wing and a prayer.

Few shows transport an audience back in time as completely as “The 1940’s Radio Hour,” an ever-popular re-creation of a vintage variety-show broadcast that returns in a heart-tugging production by International City Theatre in Long Beach.

Viewers are treated as the studio audience and get to hang out before and after the broadcast to see what goes on behind the scenes. Director Lewis Wilkenfeld cleverly paces and choreographs this activity so that it steadily builds from the calm of the empty studio to a blur of last-minute preparations. Elsewhere, however, he has left a few loose ends, particularly in a couple of underdeveloped characterizations.

Dink O’Neal anchors the production as co-producer and host of “Cavalcade” and is a boiling tea kettle of emotions who becomes Mr. Cool, Calm and Collected the instant the “On Air” sign lights up. As the show’s resident comic, Skye McKenzie channels the spirits of Lou Costello and any number of other vintage comedians. As a stage-struck delivery boy who hangs around hoping to be asked to perform, Joe Leslie Hamilton is as comically clumsy as he is deftly capable--which makes his portrayal by turns funny and poignant.

As the divas, Nancy Sinclair and Jennifer Hopson deliver husky interpretations of such standards as “Black Magic” and “I’m Beginning to See the Light”; Shea Alexander as a sexpot singer-dancer turns in a breathy “Blues in the Night”; and the whole cast sounds great in the close-harmony group numbers.

Blending reality and fantasy, set designer Don Llewellyn delivers a realistic broadcast studio backed by a fanciful Art Deco wall sculpture of war planes flying proudly through the clouds.

* “The 1940’s Radio Hour,” Center Theater, Long Beach Convention & Entertainment Center, 300 E. Ocean Blvd., Long Beach. Thursdays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 2 p.m. Dark Thanksgiving weekend. Ends Dec. 5. $28-$32. (562) 938-4128. Running time: 2 hours, 5 minutes.

Dink O’Neal: Clifton Feddington

Skye McKenzie: Neal Tilden

Nancy Sinclair: Ann Collier

Jennifer Hopson: Geneva Lee Browne

Joe Leslie Hamilton: Wally Ferguson

Ken Shepski: Johnny Cantone

Lou Saliba: Lou Cohn

Michael Betts: B.J. Gibson

Mindi Metzger: Connie Miller

Shea Alexander: Ginger Brooks

Glenn D. Calloway: Pops Bailey

Jonathan Fahn: Biff Baker

An International City Theatre production. Written by Walton Jones. Directed by Lewis Wilkenfeld. Music director Robert Brandzel. Set Don Llewellyn. Costumes Gina Davidson. Lights Donna Ruzika. Sound Paul Fabre. Stage manager Richard R. Chapin II.