By DAVID DUPONT
BG Independent News
When Haley Taylor was about 12, she and her cousins were visiting their aunt at Christmas time. They gathered as usual for treats and to watch a movie. This year it was the 1940 romantic comedy “The Little Shop Around the Corner” starring Jimmy Stewart and Margaret Sullavan.
This was the same story that inspired “You’ve Got Mail.” Only this was better, the aunt told young Haley.
They loved the comedy and watching the movie became a holiday tradition.
Now Taylor, a radio host and producer at WGTE FM 91, along with a cast of her WGTE colleagues and area thespians are going to share that tradition with local listeners.
The WGTE radio production of “Shop Around the Corner” will air Wednesday Dec. 22 and Friday Dec. 24 at 7 p.m. on FM 91. The show will also be available to stream as soon as the Wednesday show airs.
This is the third holiday radio show the station has produced.
In 2018 they did a version of “A Christmas Carol.” That production was spearheaded by Qarie Marshall, the FM 91 morning news host.
Taylor, who also produces “The Rough Draft Diaries” that airs during Wednesday’s “Morning Edition,” said she’d dreamed of doing a radio play since she arrived at WGTE in 2014. Her opportunity came in 2020. In the midst of the pandemic, the sentimental, yet thought-provoking, “It’s a Wonderful Life” seemed appropriate. Taylor said it had more impact in a time when people were shut in. “It’s such a beautiful story.”
This year, Taylor decided, “to lean in a different direction.”
The light-hearted screwball comedy packed into 60 minutes would provide “even more of a distraction from what’s going on in the world right now,” she said.
The plot centers on two antagonistic co-workers, who unknowingly have been engaging anonymous love letters with each other. This takes place in the setting of small gift shop staffed by off-beat characters with an owner who believes his wife is having an affair. It was originally a 1937 Hungarian play, and also inspired the Broadway musical “She Loves Me” and the Judy Garland film “In the Good Old Summertime.”
The script, based on the 1941 Lux Radio Theater production, was an easier lift than “It’s a Wonderful Life” from a technical point of view. While “It’s a Wonderful Life” required sound design for myriad scenes – that lonely bridge or the Baileys’ homey parlor – “The Shop Around the Corner,” all takes place within the gift shop where the characters work.
The cast is smaller. All recorded their parts individually, a particular challenge given the demands of comic timing.
In addition to Marshall and Taylor, it includes Bowling Green actor of many voices Lane Hakel.
Taylor worked with Hakel several years ago in a stage production of another Hollywood classic “Remember the Night.”
[RELATED: Lakeside Theatre closes first season with holiday show worth remembering]
Taylor was struck by Hakel’s skills and professionalism, even when asked to switch up the accent on one of his characters.
Here he’s called on to provide an Eastern European accent to play shop owner Mr. Matuschek. Bill McCloskey and Peter Crist are both actors who have graced the Croswell Opera House in Adrian, Michigan, were also enlisted.
And when Taylor sent out an email to the staff asking if anyone was interested in joining the cast, the response was enthusiastic.
Also in the cast are: Alec Simon, Sandra Felzer, Cathy Kamenca, Chris Piefer, Moira Kalakoda, Brad Cresswell, Marilyn Kerr, and Diane Nearhood.
The production came together more smoothly. Taylor remembered that last year, she was still finishing the production a few days before air time. She completed work on this a couple weeks ago. Work started in October.
Taylor said these radio plays give a new spin on holiday favorites. Some listeners told her that last year they got in their cars, tuned in to “It’s a Wonderful Life,” and then drove around looking at the Christmas lights.
Sounds like the start of a new holiday tradition.
***
Click to stream “A Christmas Carol” and “It’s a Wonderful Life” from WGTE FM 91.
