{"id":99332,"date":"2020-12-11T10:35:57","date_gmt":"2020-12-11T15:35:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/?p=99332"},"modified":"2020-12-11T12:34:45","modified_gmt":"2020-12-11T17:34:45","slug":"cincinnati-com-wright-state-professor-to-perform-one-man-christmas-carol-radio-show-dec-23","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/2020\/12\/11\/cincinnati-com-wright-state-professor-to-perform-one-man-christmas-carol-radio-show-dec-23\/","title":{"rendered":"Cincinnati.com: Wright State professor to perform one-man ‘A Christmas Carol’ radio show Dec. 23"},"content":{"rendered":"

Excerpt<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"

Since 2005 Wright State University acting professor Bruce Cromer has starred as Ebenezer Scrooge in the Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park production of \u201cA Christmas Carol.\u201d SUBMITTED PHOTO BY TONY ARRASMITH\/ARRASMITH AND ASSOCIATES<\/p><\/div>\n

For many of us, the holidays wouldn\u2019t be the same without Bruce Cromer. Since 2005, he\u2019s been the actor playing Ebenezer Scrooge in the Playhouse in the Park\u2019s production of \u201cA Christmas Carol.\u201d<\/p>\n

But this is 2020. And along with all the other weirdness we have lived through, the Playhouse\u2019s holiday show has undergone as many plot twists as one of Dickens\u2019 deliciously convoluted novels.<\/p>\n

By late spring, \u201cA Christmas Carol\u201d looked like a goner. How could the Playhouse safely bring together 28 cast members, stage technicians, ushers and box office personnel with an auditorium packed with 626 patrons?<\/p>\n

In mid-July, artistic director Blake Robison offered a solution. \u201cA Christmas Carol\u201d would be back. But it would look very different. Audiences would be limited to 190. And instead of 28 actors, there would be just one. And that person would not be Cromer. Three months later, things changed again. The show was canceled, along with the rest of the Playhouse\u2019s 2020-2021 mainstage season.<\/p>\n

But again, it\u2019s 2020. Expect the unexpected. So a couple of weeks ago, the Playhouse announced that it had cut a deal with WVXU and WMUB to broadcast and stream a one-person version of \u201cA Christmas Carol.\u201d The star? The inestimable Mr. Cromer.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m so happy about this,\u201d said Cromer, speaking by phone while walking his dog in Yellow Springs, where he lives. \u201cIt\u2019s such beautiful writing.”<\/p>\n

Interestingly, even though Cromer is the quintessential man of the stage, he admits to a passion for radio plays.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey give your imagination such a workout,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd I think Dickens is especially great for radio. Some people think he\u2019s overwritten. But he is so descriptive that most of the time, all you really have to do is read him clearly and it\u2019s all there.”<\/p>\n

A simple thing for an actor of Cromer\u2019s caliber, perhaps. But most actors would be stumped by the demands of creating dozens of characters using only the voice.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo me, the most fun about the radio broadcast is hearing Bruce\u2019s virtuosity as a vocal actor,\u201d said Playhouse artistic director Blake Robison. \u201cI suspect this was\u00a0a challenge for him. He is the most athletic, acrobatic Scrooge I\u2019ve ever seen in my life. Take away that opportunity to be physical and you see what talent he still has.\u201d<\/p>\n

Robison recruited a longtime colleague, noted sound designer Matthew M. Nielson, to add a full soundscape to the play: everything from street sounds and the clinking of Marley\u2019s chains to a small suite of incidental music.<\/p>\n

In truth, you\u2019re unlikely to notice much of Nielson\u2019s work. With most work of this sort, the sounds aren\u2019t meant to stand out. They are, by their very nature, background.<\/p>\n

\u201cI make all kinds of decisions that you probably wouldn\u2019t think about,\u201d said Nielson, speaking from his home in Silver Spring, Maryland. \u201cWhat does the room \u2018sound\u2019 like. You know \u2013 is there a fire in the corner? Do we hear the sounds of people walking by the window outside? Is it windy enough outside that we hear it at the window? I love doing those sorts of things.\u201d<\/p>\n

Because of Cromer\u2019s long relationship with the story, Robison commissioned him to prepare the script for the 60-minute production. As his starting point, he had the pared-down version of the story that Dickens himself read during his speaking tours.<\/p>\n

Fortunately, \u201cA Christmas Carol\u201d is quite short in comparison with Dickens\u2019 other novels. Still, there are dozens of characters. And Cromer had to find a distinctive voice for every one of them.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt would be easier if you could combine characters, I guess,\u201d said Cromer. \u201cBut why would you do that? Dickens\u2019 characters are all so interesting.\u201d<\/p>\n

And funny, too. Aside from his fellow actors, Cromer admits that it\u2019s the audience response that he\u2019ll miss most.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m a laugh whore, I admit it. I\u2019ll do anything to get people chuckling. I\u2019m begging for it. At the end of the play, though, when Scrooge is absolutely giddy with joy …”\u00a0Cromer is scrambling to find words eloquent enough to describe the scene.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s understandable. That final scene is what \u201cA Christmas Carol\u201d is all about. It\u2019s the scene in which Scrooge, described by Dickens as \u201ca squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous old sinner\u201d finds redemption.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s such a glorious scene, isn\u2019t it?\u201d said Cromer, recalling the words that he wrote in the script he sent to Nielson \u2013 \u201cTake us home with gladsome noise. Make us cry with joy to the world, my friend.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cA Christmas Carol\u201d<\/strong><\/h3>\n

When:\u00a0<\/strong>Broadcast: 8 p.m. Dec. 23, 7 p.m. Dec. 24; streaming thereafter<\/p>\n

Where:\u00a0<\/strong>WVXU (91.7 FM), WMUB (88.6 FM)<\/p>\n

Information:\u00a0<\/strong>www.wvxu.org, cincyplay.com<\/p>\n

Read the original story at cincinnati.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s 2020. Expect the unexpected. The Playhouse announced that it had cut a deal to broadcast and stream a one-person version of \u201cA Christmas Carol.\u201d The star? The inestimable Mr. Bruce Cromer. Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":49250,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[730],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-99332","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-wright-state-in-the-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99332","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=99332"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99332\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":99396,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99332\/revisions\/99396"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49250"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=99332"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=99332"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=99332"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}