By Randi Bjornstad
Well, of course cowboys love Christmas and Fred Crafts and his Radio Redux players are saddling up to prove it with their annual Christmas-themed radio show on Dec. 16-18.
The performance this time around will include reinterpretations of vintage radio programs from the 1940s, originated by Roy Rogers and Gene Autry — the plots will thicken onstage at a spread called Rancho Redux — as well as episodes from the popular “Gunsmoke” and “The Six Shooter” series.
The scene will be set in the ranch house where the ranch hands gather around the Christmas tree to share favorite holiday stories and songs. There will be lots of Christmas carols and cowpoke-related songs in this variety show, with special appearances by the Jewel Tones, the Hanson Family Singers, Al Villanueva, Adriana Ripley and Bill Reid.
That still will leave plenty of time for corny holiday jokes, recitations of cowboy poetry and an audience singalong of favorite Christmas tunes.
“We’ll perform it the Radio Redux way, the way a vintage radio program would have been back in the day,” Crafts said.
He encourages the audience to dress up in their own cowboy outfits to get even deeper into the Old West Christmas spirit.
The “Gunsmoke” show that Radio Redux will recreate features Marshal Matt Dillon — played by Ken Hof — as he’s drawn into the middle of a hillbilly feud that threatens, literally, “to take the life out of Christmas,” Crafts said.
In “The Six Shooter,” lawman Britt Ponset, played by Dan Pegoda, tells a youngster a life-changing tale with a Western setting but based on one of the most famous Christmas stories of all time, Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol.”
Other members of the sat include actors Achilles Massahos, Bill Barrett, Don Aday, Jonathan Ward, Judi Weinkauf and Kim Donahey, with Fred Crafts as writer and director.
Radio Redux does “A Cowboy Christmas”
When: 7:30 p.m. on Dec. 16-17 and 2 p.m. on Dec. 18
Where: The Soreng Theater at the Hult Center for the Performing Arts at Seventh and Willamette streets in downtown Eugene
Tickets: $15 to $22, available at the Hult Center box office, 541-682-5000, or online at radioreduxusa.com or hultcenter.org
Added attractions:
* “Explore,” a free behind-the-scenes talk by radio and film historian Patrick Lucanio, 45 minutes before each show in the Jacobs Community Room on the lower level of the Hult Center
* An exhibit of historic radio collectibles by Dennis Wright and a display of period memorabilia from the Lane County Historical Museum
* A “Meet-and-Greet” with the cast and crew in the lobby after each show
