The audience will be taken back in time when the musical theatre production The Last Radio Show comes to Morden this month.
The production at the Kenmor Theatre Sept. 29-30 is set in Morden in 1965 and centers around fictitious radio station CGMW, which is broke and preparing to go off the air.
It was created last year as a way to mark and celebrate the 100th anniversary of radio in Manitoba, so it has been a labour of love for Garry Moir, who has spent most of his life working in the field.
“I’ve worked in broadcasting for over 50 years, and a lot of the characters, I would say, they are just broad exaggerations of people I have worked with over the years,” said Moir, who not only wrote the play but is part of the cast.
“We did it in Winnipeg last year and we sold out both of the productions that we did there,” he noted. “One of our guests for that show was Jayme Giesbrecht, who was just going over to a role at the Eden Foundation, so this year the cast got together again and thought why don’t we do it for the Eden Foundation and raise some money for mental health.”
The play is the story of the very last live radio show performed by an elderly, dysfunctional staff, fretting about their future. However, on this final night, they must somehow pull it together to give listeners a tour of the golden days of broadcasting—and no one could have predicted what happens next.
In addition to being set in Morden, the production has plenty of local connections, as Moir grew up near Snowflake and attended high school in Crystal City while and his wife and musical director and cast member Agatha was born and raised in the Altona and Winkler area. On top of that, Jayme Giesbrecht is also part of the program as a special guest.
The Last Radio Showa takes the stage at the Kenmor Theatre Sept. 29-30 in support of mental health programming.
Moir suggested there are a number of aspects to the show that draw people to it.
“There’s a lot of really great music in there. That’s one thing,” he said. “The other thing is there aren’t really a lot of productions that appeal to kind of a 50-plus audience. We had a lot of 50-plus people in our audience, but there were a lot of younger people who seemed to enjoy it as well. It kind of cut across the generations.
“I think another thing is it’s one of those shows that has a little bit of everything. There’s music, poetry; we put it all together and do the sound effects in the way they used to do in the golden days of radio. We just make them ourselves.
“It’s just a show that has a whole lot of fun stuff in it,” Moir continued. “It’s a show that’s minimalist. We have quite a nice set, but it’s certainly small. It’s not a big expensive production.”
Another unique aspect of the production is the cast.
“The cast was almost exclusively seniors. This time, we’ve had to bring in one younger person because one of our original cast members wasn’t in good enough health to do it,” Moir said. “Some of us are well into our 70s … I think anybody who comes to see it, I think the audience will be quite surprised with the energy level and the kinds of things that a lot of these actors can do.
“You get to a certain age, it’s pretty hard to find an acting part … none of us make any money at it,” he noted. “But most of us, in one way or another, have had some acting experience in the past … we’re not a bunch of rank amateurs.”
Proceeds from the production will go to the Eden Foundation to support mental health programs.
Show times are 7 p.m. both evenings. Tickets are $25 and can be purchased in advance at www.candlewick.ca or at the door.
“We can’t wait to come out to Morden,” said Moir. “I know virtually all of the cast want to stay overnight in Morden because they’re just looking forward to getting out of the city and hopefully just putting on a really good show for everybody.”
