Arts & Entertainment
"The Great American Broadcast" Takes You Back to May, 1945
Latest production from the EPRD Candlelight Theatre Program is a patriotic, musical old-time-radio extravaganza.
You are invited to step back in time (May, 1945 to be exact) next weekend and be part of the studio audience of a “Victory In Europe” celebratory musical comedy radio broadcast that honors the first chapter in the ending of World War Two.
Such is the setup of “THE GREAT AMERICAN BROADCAST”, the latest theatrical production of the Evergreen Park Recreation Department Candlelight Theatre Program, which opens on Friday night, May 12 for two performances over the weekend.
When Germany surrendered on May 7, 1945, the radio networks went wild with programming celebrating the coming global peace. “THE GREAT AMERICAN BROADCAST” recreates the type of variety show that one might have heard in those days following V-E Day. Now, America could concentrate its efforts on ending the War in the Pacific, which would come on September 2 of that year.
Filled with the great songs of the 1940s along with a healthy smattering of classic radio comedy, "THE GREAT AMERICAN BROADCAST" is done “old time radio”- style, with actors holding scripts in front of the microphones as if they are sending their entertainment out coast-to-coast.
The Candlelight Youth Ensemble portrays the fictional musical comedy team “America’s Sweethearts”, who sings, swings, taps and marches to some popular standards celebrating the red, white and blue.
Show nights are Friday May 12 and Saturday May 13, both at 7:30pm in the Performance Hall of the Evergreen Park Senior Center, at 9547 S. Homan Avenue in Evergreen Park.
Advance tickets ($12 for adults, $10 for seniors/students) are available at the Community Center, 3450 W. 97th Street, from 9am-5pm Monday through Friday. A limited number of same-day tickets will be available on show days at the box office of the Senior Center one hour before each show time.
