Naked Radio At Drayton Entertainment
Naked Radio, the genial comedy with music enjoying a first-rate production at the Drayton Festival Theatre chronicles the travails of station WHLO (“Well, Hello!) in Middletown, a fictitious town somewhere in Ontario.
Bart Dunwood (Jeff Culbert), a third-generation DJ, welcomes eager-beaver DJ wannabe Mike Young (Kaden Forsberg) to his new job with the distressing news that WHLO has been gobbled up by Big Channel Networks (BCN). On-air talent is now obsolete. Human beings have been replaced by a “soulless, sterile silver box” that delivers canned programming to every station in the country owned by BCN.
Mike will be able to inject local sports scores from time to time but his main job is to watch the green light on that machine and use the red phone on the wall to call HQ if it ever goes out.
After breaking the news, Bart gives the silver box a dismissive whack with his fist as he is leaving and the box promptly falls apart. WHLO is now off the air.
By the way, Canadian readers might be thinking that if WHLO is in Ontario shouldn’t the call letters be CHLO? Indeed, Naked Radio is the creation of two Americans, Paul Libman (music) and Dave Hudson (book and lyrics).
Naked Radio had its premiere in 2017 at Northern Sky Theatre in rural Door County, Wisconsin. Apart from the W in WHLO, it has been thoroughly Canadian-ized for the Drayton production. End of explanatory digression.
The third character in Naked Radio is Maggie Wheeling (Jennifer Walls), WHLO’s station manager who we learn is kinda sweet on Bart. Bart, somewhat inexplicably, is slow to respond.
When Maggie hears that the station is no longer broadcasting she calls the studio to let Bart know that with a major snowstorm descending on the area WHLO is the only game in town. Not only must Bart and Mike do whatever necessary to put an immediate end to the dreaded “dead air,” they must keep the local citizenry informed.
So begins a madcap two-day marathon as Bart and Mike do whatever their fertile brains can come up with to fill the air. Unfortunately, just about every tool of live radio has already been carted off. The one remaining record has only one useable side, a catchy tune called “The Possum Trot.” Their frequent use of this inane ditty (see Footnote, below) to buy time as they think of what to do next makes for a surprisingly sturdy running gag.
Improvising like crazy, Bart and Mike encourage listeners to call in as they pull out a variety of stringed instruments and play old favorites from the days when WHLO was a real live radio station. They also create singing commercials on the fly to satisfy angry advertisers who aren’t hearing their paid-for ads on the air. (“When you overload that old commode and the fragrance tears your eyes, we think you would be wise to call Gibson’s”)
Eventually they become so desperate that Bart hits on the notion of telling their by now town-wide audience that they are broadcasting naked as they sing, “Here behind the microphone, you can’t see the things we do. We take off every stitch we own. Oh look, we’re naked, how ‘bout you? Naked radio!”
At first it’s a joke but later after imbibing copious amounts of wine left over from a staff party (they needed the calories), they do it for real taking Naked Radio to a smashing conclusion.
Director Mark DuMez has assembled what struck me as an ideal cast. Jeff Culbert as the rather hangdog Bart warms to the task of recreating the dream job that has been so cruelly taken away from him. As Mike, Kaden Fosberg has just the right youthful spirit as the fresh-out-of-college kid who has dreamed of being one of those DJs he heard growing up. His Elvis-inflected rockabilly rendition of the singing commercial for Lollipop’s Day Care is one of the show’s highlights.
The petite Jenniffer Walls is cute as the proverbial bug as Maggie. She also plays twelve other townspeople who call into the station and her ability to switch voices and characterizations is prodigious. She also accompanies some of the songs on keyboard and joins the boys on banjo when the blizzard clears.
I especially enjoyed her rendition of Agnes Blankenship from the township office who is deputized by Bart to call in every hour with updates that are always the same: “Concession One. CLOSED. Concession Two. CLOSED…” She is delightful as every one of the other townsfolk, including an annoying little brat named Nate who likes to remind the boys in the studio that they are “stoo-pid” and then hang up.
Beckie Morris has created another impressive set, Jennifer Wonnacot (costumes) has found some clever ways to differentiate Walls’ many characters, and Mikael Kangas (lights) does his usual solid job.
Naked Radio is a valentine to a bygone age in which small town radio stations had real personality and their on-air talents became beloved, if unseen friends to many in the communities they served. It’s silly and, yes, it is occasionally “stoo-pid” but its heart is firmly in the right place and I had a good time. You probably will, too.
Footnote: Here, for lagniappe, is a rendition of “The Possum Trot” from some folks at Northern Sky Theatre which premiered Naked Radio. They even provide the complete lyrics along with chord changes in case you want to learn to play it on your ukulele.
Naked Radio continues at the Drayton Festival Theatre through August 25, 2024. For more information and to purchase tickets visit the Drayton Entertainment website.
[image: Drayton Entertainment]
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