So if you’ve come this far on Madison’s journey, you may have noticed she hasn’t found herself in any old time radio comedies. The closest would be our more lighthearted detective show, The Adventures of the Thin Man, but otherwise we’ve done noir, superheroes, science fiction and horror. But no comedies. Why is that, you may ask? Especially since many of the comedies like The Jack Benny Program, Fibber McGee and Molly, My Friend Irma and others have been suggested to me over this last year. Well… a couple of things.
Mainly, I believe that OUR comedy comes from putting a comedic character of Madison into the world of dramas. Where the stakes are high and everyone takes the world very seriously. Then Madison can chime in with her ridiculous observations, personal stories, or clueless questions and pop the comedy into the scene. All of my fantastic cast who have contributed throughout this year (find them on the CAST PAGE) have had direction from me to play their characters true to the original drama. We are NOT a spoof, so I have never wanted our characters to be caricatures of old time radio actors. I firmly believe that these shows are great works of drama and suspense, and would never want to appear like we’re making fun of the programs. That said, we certainly can have fun with Madison trying to understand the world of 70 years ago. But, as I’m sure you’ve noticed, each world she inhabits, it is as real to her as it is to the others in the story.
On the flip side, the comedies of the 30s-50s were whimsical and silly. They were the characters and stories that lead us to the great TV sitcoms of the 50s. Madison in THEIR worlds feels like oil and water. Her comedy clashes with the comedies of OTR. Early on I tried to adapt an episode of Blondie (family sitcom based on the comic strip). The jokes they had in the situational humor made Madison feel either too crass or bitchy. I really strive to keep Madison from ever becoming unlikable. She tells stories about her “Mean Girl” past, but she’s never a jerk to those around her (unless they start it!) My attempt to put her in there just didn’t work.
So what about The Jack Benny Program? This is a new attempt. I decided to keep the dialogue as originally written, but cast Madison as Jack Benny. It became evident very quickly that Jack Benny’s dialogue worked with Madison’s inflections and attitude. My hope is this might be the way we pay homage to the great OTR comedies. I see it like a stage play where every new cast brings their own originality to the characters and dialogue. So we won’t force feed Madison’s comedy style into these comedies, but, instead, let her play in the humor that is already there. Will it work? You’ll have to let me know if you like it!
