LA Review of Books, Colonial Radio Theatre

The Los Angeles Review of Books is running a series of tributes to Ray Bradbury, starting with a 2004 essay "The Bradbury Era" by F.X.Feeney. I understand that a new tribute will be added each day.


Colonial Radio Theatre, which has produced some fine audio adaptations of Bradbury works including The Martian Chronicles, The Halloween Tree, and Something Wicked This Way Comes, also has a podcast. The most recent instalment (episode 21) is a special tribute to Ray Bradbury in which writer-producer-director-actor Jerry Robbins talks about how his magnificent collaborations with Ray came about. You can listen to the podcast here.

Exclusive: New Martian Chronicles Adaptation

In a world exclusive, I am pleased to reveal that Bradbury's The Martian Chronicles is to be given its first complete full-cast audio production.

The Colonial Radio Theatre already has award-winning productions of Something Wicked, Dandelion Wine and The Halloween Tree under its belt, and is now set to embark on a full-length dramatisation of the Chronicles, from a new script by Jerry Robbins.

Jerry says, "I can't tell you how thrilled I am to be able to produce this iconic work. Ray is allowing me to adapt the script for the audio production from his book as I did with The Halloween Tree, and for this I am doubly honored!"

Two of Colonial's earlier productions were audio presentations of Bradbury's own stage plays. Bradbury does already have a stage play of The Martian Chronicles. In my view, though, it is one of Bradbury's weaker adaptations - largely because Bradbury has written a very synopsised, yet highly episodic, adaptation. Bradbury has also written a number of screenplay adaptations over the years, some of which will shortly be published by Subterranean Press.

I asked Jerry what running time he envisages for his new adaptation. His answer I find quite pleasing: "I plan on adapting the entire book, so I'm not sure on the running time yet. I hope to have the script finished mid-December for Ray to read through. At that time I should have a rough idea as to the length. I don't plan on an abridgment of content by any means. If we're going to do Martian Chronicles, we're going to DO Martian Chronicles."

I hope to bring more news on this production as it proceeds, but you can also keep informed on Colonial's work on the Colonial blog.

Colonial's Latest: Something Wicked

Look out! Just in time for Halloween, Colonial Radio Theatre's production of SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES is just about to be released!

It's available to pre-order from Blackstone, here, and should be available from other sources such as Amazon and Borders fairly soon. The official release date is 1st October.

Colonial very kindly supplied me with a review copy, and I can report that this is a rollercoaster of a production, and a worthy successor to their previous release, the award-winning Dandelion Wine. The script is by Bradbury himself - it is essentially his stage play version of SWTWC, ever so slightly modified for radio/audio.

Unlike Dandelion Wine, the SWTWC play is a direct adaptation of the novel, but with many of the introspective chapters (revealing characters' inner thoughts) eliminated. This means the story rolls by at a slick pace. I think those of you who use SWTWC in the classroom will find the audio production to be a useful study aid.

I hope to post a detailed review of the production soon, but for now I'll just say that I found the music and post-production to be lavish, if at times overpowering. The performances are a mixed bag, but Mr Dark and Mr Halloway come across well. The production perhaps lacks some of the intimacy of the later parts of Dandelion Wine, and Bradbury's removal of introspection - desirable for stage, but arguably not so desirable for radio - makes for a less rounded narrative. But this may be outweighed by the gain in pace, which the Colonial team have made the most of.

Colonial have also announced that they are working on another Bradbury piece: The Halloween Tree.

My thanks to Jerry Robbins of Colonial (who plays Mr Halloway, by the way) for the information and sneak preview of the CD cover art.

Dandelion Wine wins award

Jerry Robbins of Colonial has just sent me this excellent news about their audio production of Dandelion Wine (reviewed on my site here):

Just a quick note to announce that for the second year in a row, Colonial has won "The Ogle Award" for "Best Fantasy Production of The Year" with "Ray Bradbury's DANDELION WINE." This was our first collaboration with Mr. Bradbury, and it's great to have won with his script - he was very happy to hear the news! The award ceremony will be on July 6th in Minneapolis and will be presented by David Ossman of the Firesign Theater. Ray will also be awarded the LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD In Science Fiction Audio, along with Norman Corwin.

The Ogle is named for Charles Ogle, the first actor to play the Frankenstein Monster on film, in Edisons 1910 production, and is presented by The American Society for Science Fiction Audio.

Congratulations to Jerry, Ray and all involved. And watch this space for news of their forthcoming production of Something Wicked This Way Comes...