CST LiveOnline! Presents COMEDY FUN With Abbott & Costello and Burns & Allen

Join Carpenter Square Theatre on our YouTube page to watch this exciting live event on July 17 & 18 at 7 p.m. Also, be sure to subscribe to the CST YouTube channel so you'll be informed of future events.

The theater will present the third edition of "CST LiveOnline!" by airing two Old Time Radio comedies at 7 p.m. July 17-18. They are two online live-streaming radio shows that were originally broadcast in 1938 and 1947, respectively. The broadcast will include Abbott and Costello's "Who's On First?" and an episode of The Burns and Allen Show titled "Gracie Takes Up Crime Solving."

Director Rhonda Clark has assembled a cast of metro area actors with comic flair who should be well-known to area audiences. The cast includes Don Reece and C.W. Bardsher as Abbott and Costello, and they will also perform other roles in The Burns and Allen Show. Terry Veal and Amanda Lee star as George Burns and Gracie Allen, supported by Chris Crane, Denise Hughes, Paul Austin, and David Patterson, who will play multiple roles.

Carpenter Square broadcasts their radio shows live from the studio of RK-1 Productions near Scissortail Park in downtown Oklahoma City, and they can be viewed on the Carpenter Square Theatre YouTube channel. Viewing is free, but the theater appreciates donations, as well as donations for RK-1 Studios who are providing their services for free.

"Who's On First?" is George Abbott and Lou Costello's most famous collaboration, which has its roots in burlesque and vaudeville. The sketch is set at Yankee Stadium where Abbott is identifying baseball players' names to hilarious effect. In 1999, Time Magazine named the routine the Best Comedy Sketch of the 20th Century, and an early radio recording was placed in the Library of Congress' National Recording Registry in 2003.

George Burns and Gracie Allen were a comedy duo that married in 1926 and entertained in vaudeville, film, radio, and television for over forty years. George played the straight man to Gracie's daffy wife character. Their radio show alternated between NBC and CBS from 1934 to 1950, then they quickly reemerged on television, where their popular show ran from 1950 to 1958. Their radio show was inducted in the National Radio Hall of Fame in 1994. Their television series received eleven Primetime Emmy nominations, and they were inducted into the Television Hall of Fame in 1988. In "Gracie Takes Up Crime Solving," Gracie is inspired by her favorite radio show, "The Tall Man," to become a crime sleuth. One day after a broadcast, she and a reluctant George hit the sidewalks, with Gracie expecting to trip over corpses and solve murder mysteries like her idols. Throughout the episode, they encounter friends and strangers whom Gracie lures into her so-called adventure.

"CST LiveOnline!" will air monthly while the theater itself is closed during the COVID-19 pandemic. Watch for it on the third weekend of the month throughout the summer and fall. To tune in, visit carpentersquare.com, the theater's website. On the home page, look for the purple box on the right and click on the link "Comedy Fun with Abbott & Costello and Burns & Allen." This will take viewers directly to Carpenter Square Theatre's YouTube channel. Also, folks may visit YouTube, search for Carpenter Square Theatre and subscribe to the channel, which is free. Other CST videos are posted there for the public's enjoyment.

Carpenter Square Theatre is supported in part by the Oklahoma Arts Council, National Endowment for the Arts, Kirkpatrick Family Fund, Inasmuch Foundation, and Allied Arts. Season Sponsors include Ed and Janet Bucknell and Mel and Cindy Ables.

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