Mike Randall As Charles Dickens NEWS & REVIEWS:



Forever Young Magazine-December 2009
WKBW-TV’s Mike Randall Brings Charles Dickens to Life
By Megan Fitzgerald

 Many Western New Yorkers spend time with Mike Randall every morning.
After all, he’s the meteorologist on WKBW-Channel 7’s Good Morning Western New York.
But others know him as one of the country’s foremost interpreters of
 Mark Twain and, in Charles Dickens Presents: A Christmas Carol, as Dickens himself.

Randall, complete with 19th-century beard, hairstyle, and attire, transports
his audience to Buffalo’s St. James Hall in March 1868, where Dickens
 performed two sold-out shows as a part of his critically acclaimed American reading tour.

“The story A Christmas Carol is a holiday classic, but few people
 have ever witnessed Dickens’ edited stage piece performed as he
 performed it himself,” says Randall. “I don’t read the story on stage;
I act out all the characters just as Charles Dickens did in 1868 when he performed here in Buffalo.”

The performances that Randall is referring to were highly anticipated
engagements that drew crowds of 3,000 people per night. Interestingly
enough, Dickens’ tour, including his stop in Buffalo, almost did not happen.
He had difficulty finding a qualified tour manager.

In addition, he did not know if he would be welcomed back to America
after his previous visit in 1842. (The visit prompted him to write a
book on how crass and vulgar the natives were; Americans who read the book held a bit of a grudge.)

Fortunately, Dickens found a devoted manager in George Dolby,
whom he sent to America to “test the waters.” Upon his return,
 it was decided that the nation’s bitterness was not severe enough to miss out on such an opportunity.

So despite his deteriorating health, Dickens decided to go through
with the tour. Buffalo, the 11th largest city in America at the time,
 remained a constant on the itinerary primarily because Dickens
wanted to visit nearby Niagara Falls for the second time.

Though Dickens never performed as an actor professionally,
he mounted numerous amateur productions. “Eventually, once
he started performing his works for the public, many experts of
the day agreed he was an excellent actor,” says Randall, adding
that Dickens received “rave reviews” from critics and audiences.

“There is a long tradition of one-person shows in the theater,” says Randall.
“In fact, as a child, Dickens used to go see an actor named Charles Matthews,
who performed solo. Reportedly, Dickens was mesmerized by those performances,
and they were his motivation for wanting to become an actor.”

At the same time, according to Randall, the challenge of doing a
one-person show is being alone on the stage. “No one is around to
 help dig you out of a hole if you get lost or forget a line,” he says.

He also acknowledges the difficulty of preparing for this particular
performance, where he plays a character who himself plays multiple
characters. “When preparing for a role, building the character you are
playing is an important challenge,” says Randall. “In this show, since I
play 26 characters, the real work was done three years ago when I
started researching, developing the voice and mannerisms, and
most importantly, the accents for each of the men, women and
children I play. On stage, I just need to reconstitute what has
already been created during rehearsal.”

Luckily, Randall is no stranger to the stage; he began performing as
Mark Twain at age 17. One of his first performances was at a talent
 night held at Ruby Red’s, a pizzeria located on Niagara Falls Boulevard.
It wasn’t until the age of 19 that he “went pro,” however, after being
booked at the Buffalo Showboat on Hertel Avenue. In the 39 years
since, Randall has performed Mark Twain Live! across the country
more than 2,000 times.

In 2007, Randall began performing as Dickens,
 and so far has presented about 50 performances.

“Creative people are always looking for ways to challenge
 themselves — to find something new and fun,” says Randall.
“I picked Dickens because I love the characters he created,
 and the fact that he loved to bring them to life on stage for
an audience. And of course, A Christmas Carol is a timeless
classic that we never get tired of hearing, and with a
 message we all need to be reminded of.”

Randall, an Associated Press and UPI award-winning
feature reporter, has been with WKBW-TV since August
1983. He had previous experience at WFSB-TV in
Hartford, Connecticut and WDBJ-TV in Roanoke, Virginia.

A native of Western New York, Randall studied radio
and television at Onondaga Community College, and
 theater arts at SUNY Geneseo. He obtained his Certificate
 in Broadcast Meteorology from Mississippi State University,
 and is the only local television meteorologist to have earned
 both the American Meteorological Society
and National Weather Association Seals of Approval.

In the community, Randall makes appearances at fundraisers
 for many charitable organizations, including the
Variety Club of Buffalo, of which he is an avid supporter.

“I think theater is such a personal experience for everyone,”
 says Randall. “Someone attending my Charles Dickens show
can expect to be entertained, and hopefully,
to leave the theater in the true spirit of the season.”

For more information on show dates, locations,
and times, call 840-7751 or
visit www.charlesdickenslive.com and www.marktwainlive.com
Mike Randall: the ultimate jack-of-all-trades
Randall performs as multiple characters
SPRINGVILLE JOURNAL-Jessie Owen December, 2009

We know him best as the upbeat meteorologist on WKBW-TV
but Mike Randall has a wide variety of talents that go beyond giving the forecast.

Randall grew up in western New York and attended Onondaga Community College,
Syracuse for radio and television, SUNY Geneseo for theatre and Mississippi State
 for meteorology. After his first two TV jobs in other towns Randall moved
 back to the area 26 years ago to begin his career at WKBW.

In high school Randall watched a friend do an impersonation of Mark Twain and
as he says, “that was all it took.” Shortly after that he created his show
‘Mark Twain Live’ which he has been performing all over the country for more than 30 years.

“I discovered that Mark Twain was funny and controversial and that much
of what he said was highly entertaining,” Randall says.
 “He had an opinion on just about everything - which makes
 it easier if you are trying to do a one-person show!” He put together
his script from Twain’s books, letters, speeches, essays and quotes.

Randall says he finds it very easy to slip into character. “I’ve been doing
Mark Twain for so long it’s just a matter of brushing up a little bit when
I have a show scheduled,” he says.

More recently Randall has begun performing
‘Charles Dickens Presents: A Christmas Carol,’
which he says is the author’s own edited version of the popular
Christmas story and which Dickens called his ‘prompt copy.’
“It’s the version that he performed for audiences in England
and in America,” Randall says. “Even right here in Buffalo in 1868!”

Randall performed ‘Charles Dickens Presents: A Christmas Carol’
on Saturday, Dec. 5 at the Springville Center for the Arts.
“It’s a bit trickier than anything else I have tackled because
of the flowery English language,” Randall says, “And the fact that
 Mr. Dickens acts out all the characters in his story so at any given
time during a performance I am Charles Dickens playing Scrooge
or Jacob Marley or Mrs. Crachit - there are about 26 characters in all.
Each has a different voice and mannerisms - but each one is filtered
through Charles Dickens.” Randall only performs
‘A Christmas Carol’ during the holidays and says
he looks forward to “pulling him out once a year.”

Randall began acting in high school and in the 70s
and 80s he performed at dinner theatre shows before playing Mark Twain off-Broadway.

Saturday night’s show was the latest of several Randall has
done in Springville. “I gave my second performance ever
of Mark Twain at Springville-Griffith Institute in 1972,”
he says. “That was supposed to be a freebie and the principal gave me $25. Look what he started!”

When asked about his most embarrassing moment on stage, Randall said,
“We don’t talk about those!” He says he can’t forget his lines - “There’s no one else on stage to dig me out!”

“Sometimes I get tangled up and have to dig myself out, but eventually I get back on track.”

His advise to budding actors is, “If you want to act - then act!”
 adding that training is important as well as willingness to do
any job necessary to survive. “Develop a thick skin,” he says.
 “You will get a lot of ‘No’s before you hear yes.”

Randall is married and has three sons. His future plans are to
 finish the Dickens shows he has scheduled during the holidays,
 including one slated to appear on the Time Warner Cable Stage
at the MusicalFare Theatre in Amherst from December 11 - 13.
For more information on his future performances visit http://www.musicalfare.com/nowplaying.

Randall says next on the agenda are preparations for
Mark Twain’s 175th birthday in 2010. “Then 2012 is a big Dickens year,”
he says. “It’s his 200th birthday so I’m thinking of putting together a non-holiday Dickens show.”

In addition to his impersonations and meteorology on Channel 7,
 Randall has also created ‘Mike Randall and Friends,’
performing magic shows, ventriloquism and puppeteering for kids.



Randall’s Dickens Hits The Mark
Night & Day, Thursday, Dec. 20, 2007
By: Barbara Tucker / community Editor for The Tonawanda News
   When Mike Randall is the weatherman on Channel 7, he
might occasionally miss the mark, but as Charles Dickens in
“A Christmas Carol” at MusicaFare Theatre, Randall hit the bullseye.
   The one-man show brings out all the talent of this multi-faceted
local actor.
   During the year that Randall prepared for the role, he built a
replica of the podium used by Dickens when the latter toured
the country reading his famous story.  The podium, a crystal
water decanter and glass and a book are the only props, much
like Dickens himself might have used.
   Dressed in period costume with beard and hair style and
voice to match, Randall transported theatregoers to March 1868,
when as part of his highly publicized, much anticipated
American Reading Tour, Dickens visited Buffalo to sold
out crowds.
   In this show Randall demonstrates his versatility by
performing every person in a voice befitting that character,
from miserly, miserable Ebenezer Scrooge to Tiny Tim,
Bob Cratchit and the Ghosts of Christmas past and present.
   When in the opening scene, Jacob Marley’s ghost visits Scrooge,
the latter asks him why his face is tied up with a cloth.
   At this, Marley unties the cloth and his chin “drops” to
his chest.
   At that moment, it seems his chin actually drops, so good is
Randall’s representation.
   Nearly everyone has seen the movie or a play of “A Christmas
Carol”, but you have not really heard it until you hear the voice
of Dickens come through the story so clearly.
   Randall brings the characterization to life and enthralls
the audience with his story-telling ability.
   Dickens may have come to Buffalo in 1868, but nothing
Can compare to Dickens coming at this time to MusicalFare
Theatre.
   The show continues at 8p.m. Friday, 4p.m. and 8 p.m.
Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday.  Tickets are $30, $25 for
Subscribers.
   Reservations can be made in person at the box office
Behind Daemen College In Amherst or by calling
839-8540
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Randall’s performance as Dickens is a satisfying ‘Christmas Carol’
By Colin Dabkowski NEWS STAFF REVIEWER
Buffalo News 12/16/07
No matter how many times you see a decent production of “A Christmas Carol,”
its beauty, poignancy and even its humor never diminish.

In short, it’s pretty tough to screw up.

But in most theatrical productions of the oft-mounted show, what’s often lost
is the confident, assured and surprisingly sarcastic voice of the author himself.

Leave it to Channel 7 weatherman Mike Randall — a talented actor and magnetic
stage presence — to buck that trend. His show, somewhat presumptuously titled
“Charles Dickens Presents ‘A Christmas Carol,’ ” offers a thoroughly entertaining
glimpse into this beloved tale of yuletide redemption in a manner seldom seen on
local stages — or, for that matter, anywhere. It premiered at MusicalFare Theatre on Friday night.
 
Randall, who went all-out for this show with an immense graying goatee and Dickensian
hair and costume, reveals himself here as an amusing thespian to those who have not
seen his similarly staged one-man show “Mark Twain Live.” His delivery of Dickens’
tale is a few significant steps up from a grandfatherly reading, as he wends his way through
 the tale’s motley cast of characters, adopting wildly varied voices as he goes.

The set — a simple reading stand of Randall’s own construction, a prompt copy of the book
(purely for aesthetic effect) and a pitcher and glass of water — is more or less a replica of
what the stage might have looked like when Dickens himself came to Buffalo to read his
famous story in 1868.

Randall’s close adherence to historical documents relating to Dickens’ performance
 means that he presents us with the author stripped down to his essence. The man,
his words and no more, Randall seems to be saying, are all that is required to enjoy
 “A Christmas Carol.” And he’s absolutely right.

Regardless of Randall’s significant gifts for taking on the voices of characters like
Fezziwig, Jacob Marley, Tiny Tim and Mrs. Cratchit, never is he more persuasive
or engaging than when he speaks in the voice of Dickens himself. His women are
a little too screechy, a couple of his men a bit outsize, which can distract from
the dialogue itself. Occasionally his Dickens becomes off-puttingly preening,
but these moments never last long enough to bog down the story.

Several passages are worthy of mention, but when Randall loses himself in one
of those Dickensian bouts of rich description, he’s at the top of his game.
 
“In they all came, one after another,” Randall said gesturing in sweeping motions
with his hands in describing the Fezziwig scene, “some shyly, some boldly, some
gracefully, some awkwardly, some pushing, some pulling. In they all came, anyhow
 and everyhow.”
 
And so Dickens’ characters come one by one to the Musical- Fare stage,
anyhow and everyhow, through Randall’s fine and satisfying performance.
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Christmas Spirits Visit MusicalFare
By Debra Durkee/  MetroSource Reporter
“I have endevoured in this Ghostly little book, to raise the Ghost of an idea, which shall
not put my readers out of humour with themselves, with each other; with the season, or with me. 
May it haunt their houses pleasantly, and no one wish to lay it.”….Charles Dickens, preface to A Christmas Carol

Mike Randall is in many ways Buffalo’s own Renaissance man. 
Growing up in Western New York, for years he has been known as a WKBW-TV weatherman
and reporter, puppeteer; entertainer; and even as the infamous and temperamental literary
 giant Mark Twain.  Randall is branching out even further now, reenacting readings of one
of the most beloved holiday stories of all time, Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol.

In keeping with the musical theme the performance, like the book is divided into staves. 
The production spans two hours where Randall is on stage alone with his handcrafted
podium and his thin copy of Dickens’s most famous work.  The book is unrewarded
for most of the time as Randall weaves his narrative magic.

While Randall was physically the only person on stage, it seemed as though a rich cast
was playing out the drama.  With an amazing ability for not only story telling but for acting
as well, Randall becomes not only the spirits of Christmas Past, Present and Yet To Come,
 but of Scrooge, Bob Cratchit and the rest of the cast of A Christmas Carol.  He narrates
 most of the book in the voice of Dickens himself as he told the story to a live audience more
than a century ago, but in breaths and moments he becomes the creations of Dickens.  The
dialogue is delivered with the melancholy air of Cratchit, the quiet awe of Tiny Time, scowl
and later smile of Scrooge as the audience sees the transition from miserly moneychanger to
humanitarian.  With a shy giggle he becomes Scrooges nephew, Fred and a hearty laugh and
beaming smile Old Fezziwig seems to take the stage.

Originally with the hefty title of A Christmas Carol in Prose, A Ghost Story Of Christmas, what
would become his most famous work was originally written to help Dickens pay off a debt.  In spite
of failing health, Dickens went on a tour of America in the late 1860’s, giving public readings.  The
readings were presented before sold-out crowds; tickets were scalped and the reviews praised Dickens
not only for his literary genius, but his skill at getting on stage and slipping into the personalities
and minds of the characters he created.

In a final ironic twist, there was one person who sat in the audience before Dickens who lampooned
the performance readings; Randall’s other alter ego, a young journalist and future novelist named Mark Twain.

Randall’s exquisite, moving performance of A Christmas Carol was presented by MusicalFare,
located on the campus of Daemen College off Main Street in Buffalo.  Now in it’s 18th season,
the theatre’s next show begins on Jan. 9 and runs to Feb. 10, when the company will present the
darkly humorous musical thriller, Sweeny Todd.  For more information on upcoming shows and
purchasing tickets, call the box office at 839-8540
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A man of many hats: Ch. 7 meteorologist Mike Randall takes to the
stage with his one man "Christmas Carol"
By: MATTHEW CHANDLER
Hamburg Sun,  November 22, 2007

Mention the name Mike Randall and many Western New Yorkers will tell you he is "that
weather guy on television."

While it is true that Randall earns his living as a meteorologist for Channel 7 telling viewers
whether or not they should bring their umbrellas to work, it is just one of several roles the
veteran actor and television personality juggles in his day-to-day life.

In a career that has spanned four decades. Randall has been a pitch man for everything
from lottery tickets to hamburgers, hosted television shows, worked as a feature reporter
and eventually built a career as a respected weather forecaster.

Somewhere in between all of that, Randall has found time to create, promote, and star in several
one-man performance shows that have earned him critical praise across the country and right here
in his own back yard.

Life as 'The Great Man'

For Mike Randall, his acting career began somewhat on a lark, thanks to a friend he went to
high school with named Marshall Goldman. Goldman was participating in the annual school talent
show and had chosen to tackle the role of an American icon: Mark Twain.

"It was just a crazy kid thing to try and do Twain. I saw him (Goldman) and thought it would
be fun to put on all that make-up and tell jokes." Little did he know at the time, that "crazy kid thing"
would catch fire, and today, 35 years and over 2,000 performances later, he is still wowing audiences
with his rendition of arguably one of America's greatest authors and humorists.

Among the many venues where Randall performs "Twain," his largest by far is his annual appearance
at the Huck Finn Jubilee, a bluegrass festival held every summer in California.

Don Tucker, director of the Huck Finn Jublilee, has high praise for Randall's take on Twain.

"I've had the chance to see a number of Twains in my time, and Mike is, by far, my favorite," says Tucker.

Tucker says that since bringing Randall to California seven years ago, his performances have been
outstanding, and he says Randall occupies the main stage of the festival, regularly performing in front of
crowds numbering 1,500.

"Mike is a great guy," says Tucker. "We sought him out to be a part of our show, to help us take it to
another level, and he was all that we expected right from the very first year we had him out."

Before he was even old enough to have a drink, Randall was traveling the country performing his
one man show "Mark Twain Live," in theaters to capacity crowds.

Despite the early success he experienced, the Tonawanda native still wasn't sold on acting as a career.

"I liked theater and I always wanted to do it, just not for a living," recalls Randall.

'It's good to be the King'

Though he may have been unsure of his future, others saw the magic in his Twain show.
While performing in Alexandria Virginia, Randall received an offer to take his show to New York City
 to perform at a 300 seat dinner theater. For the young Randall, it was by far the largest
venue of his blossoming career.

"I was floored by the offer. The funny thing is, it cost me more to do the show
(staying in New York, parking, etc.) than I made, but it was a great experience."

His next big break came in 1978 when he auditioned to be "The marvelous, magical Burger King."
The fast food chain was looking to counter the immense popularity of Ronald McDonald and
developed a traveling magical tour that would center around live appearances at local Burger King restaurants.
For Randall, it was fantastic money, a chance to act, perform magic, and eat a lot of fast food.

"I would do a three hour appearance at the restaurant, which consisted of three twenty minute shows
plus a lot of shaking hands, taking pictures, and doing magic for the kids."

He says life as the king had a rock star side to it.
"They would take out full page ads in the local paper announcing the event and sometimes
we would get thousands of people there in the parking lot for a show."

The road to television

As much as Randall enjoyed life as "The King," he quit the burger gig after two years with
his sights set on a career in television and radio.

He began to send out resumes while continuing to perform his stage show.
To hear him tell the story, it was a trying time as his professional career was at a crossroads.

"I had A LOT of rejections in those years," he says. But he kept doggedly at it and eventually,
in 1981, he landed his first television job in Virginia.

For Randall, it would be the stepping stone that would launch his return to Western New York in 1983.
Homeward bound

"My mom had sent me an article saying there was an opening at Channel 7," Randall recalls.
"I sent them a tape and they weren't interested. Six months later they still hadn't filled the position,
so I sent them another tape."

This time, Randall was given an interview and in 1983 became a on-air feature reporter in his hometown.

He spent the next six years doing interviews, feature stories and profiles for Channel 7.
In a foreshadowing of things to come, he even filled in and did the weather occasionally,
though he wasn't a meteorologist. During those years, Randall says he had many great
interviews and features, but a few stick out in his mind.

"Willie Nelson was in town and I was supposed to do a quick thing with him, I figured just a few questions.
I got there and the next thing I knew, I was on the bus with Willie. It was a big thrill to see him in person."

Randall also shares a funny tale of just how far he was willing to go to get a story.

"I was scheduled to interview John Candy, who was in town to promote his film Planes, Trains,
and Automobiles. I got to the hotel downtown and called up to his room.

There was some confusion about the interview and after putting me on hold, his manager
came back and said, 'He'll do the interview if you get your hair done with him.' Fifteen minutes
later I'm in a salon chair getting my hair permed with John Candy."

As he began to fill in as the weatherman on Channel 7, it became clear there might be an
opportunity to make it a permanent career move for Randall.

"I really didn't want to be the weatherman. Back then, there were very few graphics,
and you had to do a lot of tap dancing. I liked what I was already doing."

Though he may not have been initially warm to the idea, eventually he did take over as the
Channel 7 meteorologist, returning to school in 1989 and earning his degree.

Twenty-five years after returning to Buffalo, Randall is the evening meteorologist at
Channel 7, and in spite of his stage success with Twain and Dickens, it's a gig he wouldn't trade.
"I enjoy the time I have on the stage, but I like my job."

Rebirth of Dickens

As for his time on stage, after over 2,000 shows portraying the life and humor of Mark Twain,
Randall decided to go back to the drawing board for a new character.
While he will continue to do his popular Twain show, he wanted to try something new this year.

"I got really excited about doing Dickens once I found out he actually performed in Buffalo," explains Randall.

He spent a full year researching and writing his one man show.
Randall says the most challenging part of capturing Dickens has been memorizing the
script. As for the appeal of Dickens, Randall says it is about a man who had broad appeal
and whose work still yields influence today.

"Dickens was so powerful, even illiterate people of his time knew his stories because
they would go to penny readings to hear them performed," says Randall.
 "So much of what he wrote lives on today."

Thanks to the passion and efforts of Randall, the traveling stage show of Dickens lives on once again as well.

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Rocket Man Nov. 29, 2007 Doug Smith, Buffalo Rocket
Mike Randall’s ‘Carol’

            In 1868, Buffalo greeted Charles Dickens like a rock star. Mike Randall,
re-creating the magic two weeks hence with “A Christmas Carol” at MusicalFare,
says “The newspapers covered his every move.”

 “Mr. Dickens has gone to see Niagara Falls,” one breathlessly trumpeted.  Like Elvis,
 Dickens had left the building, St. James Hall,  after thrilling 3,000 people in two readings.

            “Dickens’ actor friends loved his readings, but his literary friends
thought it was cheesy” Randall says. “It turned out they were enormously successful.
In England, even the illiterate would come out for his ‘penny readings.’”

            Critics loved him. The Buffalo Express declared,
“This was not a reading they saw. It was acting in its noblest sense.”

            In creating his own show, Ch. 7 weatherman Randall has
sifted a blizzard of data:  “There are more reviews of Dickens
available than anything else I’ve ever researched.”

            For Dickens, it was the best of times and the worst of times.
He was deathly ill, often collapsing in the wings. He cancelled the Midwest portion
of his US tour but “wanted to make sure he played Buffalo, to see the Falls.” He died two years later.

            Comfortably rich and famous, Dickens endured the twists because “he had
wanted to be an actor since he was very young,” Randall says. “He missed one early
audition because of illness.” Now, on top of the world, he could fulfill his great expectation.

            Like Dickens, Randall will create every “Carol” character from a podium, bearing
a “prompt” copy, but “I can’t read it with my glasses off and Dickens didn’t wear them.”
His own favorite “Carol” readers include “Harry Potter” narrator Jim Dale (“soothing”),
the Muppets (Rocket Man agrees) and impersonator Rich Little, whose cast includes W.C. Fields as Scrooge.         

            Now this: “…delightful. His re-telling of ‘A Christmas Carol’ is enhanced
by his portraying all the characters – Scrooge, Marley, Cratchit, even Tiny Tim… a gifted actor.”

Sounding like an 1868 review of Dickens, that’s UB Theater Professor Saul Elkin
assessing Randall, who staged “Carol” as a benefit for Shakespeare-in-the-Park
at Buffalo Seminary in November. Other “private” previews will polish the ghosts
for their world premiere at MusicalFare, 4380 Main St., Snyder, Dec. 14-23.

Return fire to Rocket Man at Box 1186, Grand Island, NY 14072 or e-mail pollyndoug@hotmail.com

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Mike Randall
One-Man Show Brings Charles Dickens to Life;
Actor is Far Beyond Just ‘The Weather Guy’
By Paul Chimera
After 50 In-Focus Columnist and Feature Writer
December, 2007

Everyone in Western New York knows Ch. 7 weatherman Mike Randall, no one in Western New York
knows Mike Randall. As Charles Dickens famously observed in A Tale of Two Cities: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.”

If we are at once both what people think we are, and what we know we are inside
 – removed from any public “image” – then Randall is as authentic as it gets. Yet, one could argue, he almost didn’t get here at all.

Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol begins, Marley was dead: to begin with. There is no doubt whatever about that.
When Randall was born 54 years ago at Sister’s Hospital in Buffalo, he was, the doctors thought, stillborn.
Baptized immediately. And, in time, kidded by his fun-loving father that he “eventually came to life – except your brain!”

What a curious start to a life that’s been nothing if not destined for great expectations.
Including a desire to entertain, which Randall credits to birth order. The fifth of six
children born to the late Robert (better known as Bud) and Martha (known commonly as Pat) Randall,
 “I would do anything for attention,” he recalls.

Beginning Dec. 14, Randall will be the center of attention – at center stage –
performing his new one-man show, Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol,
at MusicalFare Theatre on the campus of Daemen College in Amherst.
This is the newest passion for the popular, affable meteorologist, who for
35 years has carved out a critically acclaimed regional and even national
reputation playing Mark Twain in a similar solo stage tribute to the legendary
author. “I like the whole aspect of being someone else,” Randall reveals.
He started his Twain act at the ambitious age of 17.

Huddles with Holbrook

Ch. 7 colleague Jon Summer points out admiringly that Randall and Hollywood
actor Hal Holbrook “have actually sat down together to decide on who would
 use what material on Twain, so they didn’t appear to be copying each other.
 Holbrook was the one who created the role of Mark Twain live, but he felt
Randall was that good that they should do their respective acts so as not
to infringe on the other. Holbrook wears a white suit and smokes cigars.
Randall wears a black suit and smokes a pipe. And it goes on from there.”

Now Twain morphs into a new, miserly protagonist, just in time for the holiday
season, and Randall’s up for the role. “I wanted to challenge myself to come up with a new character. I hit on Dickens because
it’s seasonal. I took a whole year to work on it,” he explains.

He says he wanted to portray what both literary icons – Twain and Dickens – actually did. Twain lectured before he became
a more solitary author, and Dickens, too, not only penned some of the world’s greatest stories, but took to the lectern to
share his characters in a more animated and public way, becoming one of history’s best storytellers.

“It’s the greatest story of repentance and reconciliation,” Randall says of A Christmas Carol.

The public can enjoy Mike Randall’s interpretation of the Christmas classic, which he conceived, wrote and directed,
from Dec. 14 –23. Performances run Fridays at 8 p.m.; Saturdays at 4 p.m. and 8 p.m.; and Sundays at 2 p.m.
(eight shows total). Call the box office at: (716) 839-8540 for additional details.

Randall, who stays fit despite a passion for chicken wings (baked, not deep fried!), is surely best known locally
as the good-natured, good-looking 6 ft. 2 in. weatherman at WKBW-TV, his professional home for what will be
25 years next August.

It’s a career that might have been far different, had it not been for his self-described epiphany in 1980.
He had a dinner theatre engagement in Roanoke, Virginia at the time. With a break in the show,
he drove home to Western New York (he grew up in the Town of Tonawanda), then,
upon the return trip to Roanoke, he broke down.

“There are people at home I love!”

“What am I doing?” Mike asked himself. “I’m going on stage in Virginia to make people love me,
when there are people at home who love me!” It was then it occurred to the former Daemen College
theatre arts and communication major that acting was a fine thing to do on the side, but broadcasting
might be a more practical arena in which to make a slightly more stable living.

Slightly, indeed, because broadcasting as a profession is about as stable as a tightrope walker at
the epicenter of an earthquake. Yet Randall has weathered the shifting sands and kept his balance
just fine. He’s been at Channel 7 since 1983 – a seismic accomplishment in itself.

His foothold at the station became strongest when a reporter, who also handled weather duty on
weekends, resigned in 1989. The station needed a weekend weather person.
Randall was in the right place at the right time.

Eventually he earned his full meteorology credentials, including Seals of Approval from the National
Weather Association and the American Meteorological Society. “My wife said I’d regret it if I didn’t
do this,” says Randall of his spouse of 25 years, Kathy, who’s a stay-at-home mom and helps care
for a 99-year-old former female doctor down the road from their home in the Boston Hills.

Greatest Achievement:
His Marriage

The couple has three boys: Nick, 22, graduated from Berkley School of Music and is now a
musician and teacher in Boston, Mass. Ben, 19, is a sophomore at SUNY-Fredonia, studying
communications and public relations, while 14-year-old Adam is a student at Hamburg High
School. The Randall crib is also home to a black poodle, two cats, two chinchillas
(one having only three legs), and a dove.

“My greatest achievement is my marriage of twenty-plus years, and my three kids,”
Randall says, exuding the compassion of a husband and father who discovered a long
time ago that living out of a suitcase as a touring actor was not a life – not for him, anyway.
 “Your kids are your legacy. They keep me more humble.”

He reports being embarrassed yet appreciative when recognized around town.
Two people briefly interrupted our breakfast interview to confirm their suspicions that,
hey, that looks like weatherman Mike Randall.

Weather expert. Twain impersonator. Lover of John Wayne movies.
Admirer of Clint Eastwood. Worshipper of singer Willie Nelson, whom
he got to meet and continues to idolize for his purity as a musician.

And now the English novelist, Charles Dickens, reinvented right here in
Buffalo. But, wait, don’t turn that dial.


Did you know that the friendly guy who tells you about rain, wind, snow and occasional
sunshine is also into making his own stained glass creations? Is an accomplished magician?
Has long had a penchant for puppets – performing with them and even building some,
including a Baby Bigfoot puppet for the Lewiston Wildlife Festival? And, just to throw
you off some, he throws his voice – as a ventriloquist.

Appearing once on the old What’s My Line? TV show, famed Spanish artist Salvador
 Dali answered “Yes” to so many questions that one panelist exclaimed,
“My goodness, there’s nothing this man doesn’t do!” It seems you might say
the same about the mustachioed Mike Randall.

And, like Dali, he’s never been afraid to push the envelope. In high school,
he dressed up as one of the monkeys from the film, Planet of the Apes,
then proceeded to prance around the Buffalo Zoo. His slightly surreal antics landed him on the 6 o’clock news.

When The Godfather was all the rage, Randall dressed up like Vito Corleone
and went to the movies that way, in costume and gravel voice. It’s the
“magic of childhood creativity,” he says, that has always struck a chord with him.

In his early career, Randall auditioned for PM Magazine in Roanoke, Virginia’s
WDBJ, and landed the gig. That was 1981. Eighteen months later, he was off to
Hartford, Connecticut – a slightly bigger market than Buffalo – and did that city’s
version of the same broadcast magazine at WFSB, for about a year. Among his
impressive list of credits is his award-winning work as a broadcast feature reporter,
much of it with a slapstick comic vibe viewers loved.

Becoming Dickens

These days, he still somehow manages to fit in visits to area schools, talking about the
weather, or doing puppet and magic shows at various community locations. But as he
chatted with me over a plate of scrambled eggs, sausage links, and lots of coffee, he
couldn’t get his mind off of Charles Dickens. Randall makes it clear it’s not merely the
weather guy reading Dickens; he becomes Dickens.

He went so far as to take a woodshop class at Hangimals woodworkers in Hamburg, so
he could build a replica of the Dickens reading desk. Though he says he never tires of the
Twain act he’s been portraying for 35 years, his new challenge is something he “really got
stoked about when I discovered that he actually performed in Buffalo in 1868.”

How ironic: when Randall attended Daemen College in 1971 (Rosary Hill at the time),
he performed in The Importance of Being Earnest, on the same stage he’ll be doing
Dickens this month. And his first Twain performance was in Wick Hall on the Daemen campus in 1972.

Now he returns as Charles Dickens (1812-1870), the man who made famous such masterworks
as Oliver Twist, Nicholas Nickleby, David Copperfield, and Pickwick Papers. The performance
 is a co-production of MusicalFare Theatre, 4380 Main St., Amherst, with Randall Kramer
as executive director. Lighting and sound design are by Chris Cavanagh.

Mike Randall reminds us of the real meaning of it all, through an enduring line from,
 well, Charles Dickens, of course: “It is good to be children sometimes, and never
better than at Christmas, when its mighty founder was a child himself.”

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RANDALL AS DICKENS:
Weatherman brings “A Christmas Carol” to life
November 30, 2007
Niagara Living Magazine
By Michele Deluca/delucam@gnnewspaper.com
James Neiss/staff photographer Lockport, NY


Charles Dickens is going to be spending the holidays
inside of Mike Randall’s head, so Mark Twain is just
going to have to move over and make some room.

For those who might not know it, Randall, a long-time
weatherman at WKBW TV’s Channel 7, has made a
second career for himself doing spot-on, one-man shows as Mark Twain.

He’s done the show more than 2,000 times, cigar smoke
wafting around his head as he recounts Twain’s stories.
To hear Randall tell it, Twain was a funny guy, so the
act is a lot like doing standup comedy in the guise of a 70-year-old writer.

And while he loves doing Twain, for a while now, Charles Dickens has been
waiting in the wings for Randall’s attention and will be making a timely
appearance on local stages during the holiday season.

After a year’s worth of preparation — including a dialect coach who helped with the British accent
— Mike Randall is bringing Charles Dickens to life, recreating the author’s own immensely popular
readings of Dickens’ classic play, “A Christmas Carol.”

Western New Yorkers who love Twain as much as Randall does might see the two famous
authors as contemporaries. Certainly, they were both writers, and, if you ask Randall, both
possibly a little bipolar, but Twain was no Dickens. Twain, Randall said, was a simple humorist,
while Dickens, was like a pop star. People would wait in lines all night to get tickets to see him read “A Christmas Carol.”

“He was like Madonna or Barbra Striesand,” Randall said. “His reviews were just incredible.
He just blew people away because he was just a consummate actor, and he loved these characters.”

Dickens once came to Buffalo to read “A Christmas Carol,” and he received rave reviews.
By coincidence, at least for Randall, one of those reviews was written by Mark Twain.

The curmudgeonly Twain, describing the performance, wrote that he found Dickens a bit
too “Englishy,” but a reviewer for the Buffalo Morning Express, in the March 13,1868, edition,
countered with this: “This was not a reading they saw. It was acting in its highest and noblest sense ...
there was Scrooge, gruff, cynical and brutal, poor pleading Bob Crachit, Tiny Tim and
the rest in perfect voice, action and feature, every changing mood as vivid as though they stood before us.”

Around the time Randall found the Buffalo reviews for Dickens, he had been searching for
another historic character to bring to life. He had thought about doing Dickens, “but I was
never really clear about what he did on stage until I read the review by Twain,” he said.

Those who have seen Mike Randall work a room are clear that if anyone can single-handedly
 recreate the work of Dickens, he can. During a recent visit to a newspaper lobby, he engaged
all he encountered from the receptionist to the photographer in congenial greetings and snippets of storytelling.

And, for those who might wonder, a recent interview with Mike Randall was far better than
watching him on television, as this man engaged in a way that great conversationalists do,
as interested in the stories of another human as in the sharing of his own. His face was
an ever-changing spectrum of emotions as he recounted his drive to the interview location,
passing the cemetery where his parents are buried and the place he took his drivers exam
as a teenager back when the Town of Tonawanda was known as Kenmore.

A brief history goes like this. He met his wife Kathryn in Roanoke, Va., where she was
 a news anchor and he was a PM Magazine host. Eventually, back in Buffalo, they raised
three sons, all musicians to their parents’ wonder and delight.

When Randall was a feature reporter at Channel 7, they “dragged him to the weather
set kicking and screaming,” but he came to love doing the weather and went on to earn

 two prestigious weather certificates. He marveled at much he came to enjoy doing the weather,
considering how different it is from his stage gig.

“It’s the exact opposite. It’s all about science and trying to figure out what’s going to
happen next,” he said. And, by the way, he does kids shows with puppets and ventriloquism,
 but that part of the weatherman — with its unlikely similarity to his predecessor,
Tom Jolls, also known as Commander Tom a story best left for another day.

After a year’s worth of preparation, including reciting the “Christmas Carol”
script over and over in his basement and in his car, after his first “sneak preview,”
 he was relieved to find that his instincts about Dickens were right. “It’s really
good theater. People like it, and there are some really funny moments.”

For the bulk of the holiday season, Randall’s solo production of “A Christmas Carol”
will be at home at MusicalFare Theatre at Daemen College on Main Street in Amherst,
where the show is directed by his friend, Randall Kramer.

Prior to that, there will be several other performances, including one at 7 p.m.
Saturday at Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church in Niagara Falls.

Randall is hopeful that contemporary audiences will be as captivated as they were
 200 years ago. The story remains as relevant, he said, and there are moments
in the reading when even Randall gets “verklempt.”

“I absolutely love when Scrooge is looking in on this Crachet family and they
are happy and grateful and pleased with one another and contented with their lives,” he said.

“We like Christmas because it is our family time, and that’s the nucleus of this
story. It’s the part that doesn’t change,” Randall added. “Scrooge needed to
have an epiphany to realize how important that was.”

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Theater preview: Randall shifts attention from Twain to Dickens
Randall shifts focus from Twain to Dickens for holidays
BY COLIN DABKOWSKI News Arts Writer
Updated: 12/14/07 9:26 AM

In what must be the most daring and unique version of “A Christmas Carol” to come
to the region in years, Channel 7 weatherman and sometimes Mark Twain
 impersonator Mike Randall will perform a one-man show he’s calling “
Charles Dickens Presents ‘A Christmas Carol.’ ”

Inspired by a well-documented performance of “A Christmas Carol” that
Dickens gave in Buffalo in 1868, and armed with a homemade reading
stand and a solid year of rehearsal under his belt, Randall will perform
 in the persona of the author himself at MusicalFare Theatre starting tonight.
 He recently spoke with The News about the show.

 What inspired you to switch over to Dickens.
Did you get bored with Twain?

I had an illness last summer. I was out of work for two months and in the
hospital for 11 days and, honest to God, I almost died. At that point, one
thing I’d been talking about was to do another show, and I could list
probably 15 or 20 characters that I considered doing.

I was laying there, and I started thinking about Dickens.
The only thing I knew about Dickens at that time, aside from the fact that
I knew he wrote “A Christmas Carol” and some of his writings, was that
Twain was not a big fan of his.

Twain actually reviewed Dickens when he came to this country on his
 reading tour in New York, and Twain was a little lukewarm.
And then I started reading all the other reviews that Dickens got
and they were just bravo, cheers, people waiting in line all night for
tickets, standing ovations and all of that. And I go, “What’s this all about?”

Was Twain jealous of Dickens?

I think there may have been jealousy. Twain is the ultimate curmudgeon,
he was. You couldn’t name a subject that he couldn’t say something crappy
about. I think that’s what it was with the Dickens thing. He said, he was
“too Englishy.” Well, the guy was English, for God’s sake. He was English,
so of course he was Englishy.

But it wasn’t his cup of tea. Until [Twain’s wife] Olivia got a hold
 of him, Twain was kind of a roughneck, and here
comes this sissy boy from England to do this thing.

In terms of their world renown or in terms of how famous
 they were in their own times, I think Dickens totally dwarfs Twain.
As an actor, how do you approach the Dickens character?
There are so many different approaches. There are so many versions of
“A Christmas Carol” out there right now, and this sort of wipes all that
away and gets right down to the basics: the man that wrote the story
and the man that performs the story.

For me, the other part that makes me excited, is that it’s a story we never really
get sick of. Yeah, we drag it out every year, every theater group does it . . .
It’s like the “Rocky” story. The guy’s an underdog, he gets a second chance,
and we’re rooting for him. I mean, yeah, Scrooge is a jerk, but ultimately we’re rooting
 for him. We want him to wake up and smell the coffee. We want him to have another chance.•

PREVIEW
WHAT: “ Charles Dickens
Presents ‘ A Christmas Carol’ ”
WHEN: Opens at 8 tonight and runs through Dec. 23
WHERE: MusicalFare Theatre, 4380 Main St., Amherst
TICKETS: $ 25 to $ 30
INFO: 839- 8540 or musicalfare. com
cdabkowski@buffnews.com

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Randall Takes Turn As Dickens
By Elizabeth Taufa
Amherst Bee reporter  December 5, 2007
 
Most people know Mike Randall for his Mark Twain show, which has been showcased
throughout Western New York for years, but this Christmas season, Randall will perform
another one-man show titled "Charles Dickens Presents: A Christmas Carol" at MusicalFare
Theatre on Daemen College's campus, 4380 Main St.
 
Mike Randall as Charles Dickens in "Charles Dickens Presents: A Christmas Carol"
at MusicalFare Theatre. 
 
The show will be presented at 8 p.m. Fridays, 4 p.m. and 8 p.m. Saturdays,
and 2 p.m. Sundays, from Friday, Dec. 14 through Sunday, Dec. 23. Tickets are $30.
 Subscriber and student discounts are available.

The show is based on Dickens' America Reading Tour, which stopped in Buffalo in
March 1868. More than 3,000 people in two days saw Dickens perform.

Randall's performances will be a re-creation of Dickens' reading of "A Christmas Carol."

"I spent a year working on this show," said Randall, noting that preparations
included finding a costume and wig and building a replica of Dickens' reading stand.
"The most interesting thing to me is that by the time he got to this country, he was not
reading but performing all of the characters."

Randall has also memorized the 90-minute, spoken-word version of the book,
which he says is the only Dickens sanctioned theatrical version of the book.

"This is the only approved version," Randall said. "All others never came from Dickens."

Unlike Randall's Twain show, the memorization took the better part of the past year.

"I was still memorizing the last 10 pages or so in September," he said. "Twain was
more of a stand-up comic, so there's time to think, and I can edit in my head if I need to.
This can only go one way, and you can't leave anything out."

While the performances at Musical- Fare will be the first official ones for Randall, he has
stayed busy with promotional and benefit performances of the piece, which have
also served as dress rehearsals.

"I didn't know if it would be entertaining or if there would be any laughs in it,"
he said. "But there are, and people seem to be enjoying it."

Randall has also enjoyed working on the piece, and he hopes that its seasonal
nature and well-known story will provide an entertaining experience for audiences.

"It's a story we never get tired of," he said. "It's the ultimate story of a guy getting a second
chance, and we love it when human beings are given a shot at redemption."

For more information or tickets, call the theater at 839-8540 or visit www.musicalfare.com
or Randall's Web site at www.CharlesDick ensLive.com.



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