NEWS BLOG (WSAU) You’ll figure out the best part about A Christmas Carol soon enough.

The show has a cast of thousands – well, dozens actually – of all different ages and all different abilities. Maybe one of the young children on stage will remember the experience a few years from now. Perhaps they’ll want to go to drama camp next summer, or they’ll try out for their school play. One of the adults who’s singing carols or reciting their lines will rediscover how much they enjoyed acting when they were in high school. Maybe they’ll take it up again.

Wausau Community Theater is doing something very smart. If you want to have a strong cast for the more difficult, complicated shows, you’d better get people on-stage now. We can’t staff The Sound of Music or Hello, Dolly! unless we have people who are game for it. And many of those future cast members are trying out their fancy right now. It’s a very good thing.

John Huryk is a very good Scrooge. His transformation after a night of visitations is convincing. Jeff McDonald was an excellent ghost of Bob Marley.

There were two people on stage who have also been heard on-air at WSAU. Ryan Yde, who contributes to our morning commentaries, and Amy Snyder, who sometimes joins her father of WSAU Feedback, were both joys to watch. And on the way home from the theater my children talked about parts they could play. Maybe next year they will.

Chris Conley
Operations Manager, Midwest Communications-Wausau
12.18.10