A nationwide re-telling of the classic American tale

About the Project

In 2011 PMRP spearheaded a nationwide campaign to spread the joy of terrifying radio drama to all the corners of America!

That Halloween, several radio drama troupes presented live performances of Washington Irving's classic American horror tale, "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow". Each troupe adapted their own version of the story: from its original late 18th century setting to the modern day.

Organizations that have signed on so far include:

For our third Big Broadcast, we returned to WPM's studio atop the Putnam-Moore department store for an episode of The Frank Cyrano Byfar Hour, in which Frank and Amelia moved into the Adams family home on Beacon Hill after Amelia's father, Ephraim J. Adams, left it to her in his will. With this move they also inherited the Adams' long-suffering butler, Chelmsford, along with an unusual assortment of neighbors and nuisances. The show was capped by a visit from one of Hollywood's leading ladies—none other than Katharine Hepburn herself! Following the Byfar Hour, in broadcast planned by station manager Howard Comstock to compete with the ever-encroaching threat to radio audiences posed by television, WPM broadcast an original adaptation of Washington Irving's classic tale The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.

These performances were part of a nationwide radio-drama event, Sleepy Hollow: The Ride Across America. We were joined by special musical guest Jaggery.

For our second Big Broadcast, performed in October of 2010 at the Somerville Theatre, PMRP returned to the Rooftop Gardens Auditorium at the famed Putnam-Moore department store for another episode of WPM’s Frank Cyrano Byfar Hour to join Frank Cyrano and the gang for great music and lots of Hallowe’en fun, including a special guest appearance by none other than Hollywood horror legend Boris Karloff!. Then we presented another two chilling Tomes of Terror from the WPM archives: “But Oh, What Happened to Hutchings!” which touches among other subjects upon the finer points of cadaver acquisition, and “The Sirens of War” in which a Navy barge carrying munitions to the Gulf of Mexico encounters mysterious and compelling forces along the Missouri.

For our first Big Broadcast, performed at the Somerville Theatre in October 2009, we went back to 1938 with The Frank Cyrano Byfar Hour, as it might have been broadcast from the Rooftop Gardens Auditorium of the Putnam-Moore Department Store in downtown Boston, where we joined Frank, Amelia Adams, Charley Kendall, Jenny Brennan, Lex Concord and the Minutemen and the Chowderhouse Gang for some great music, lots of Halloween fun, and a very special guest star! Then we performed an original adaptation of The War of the Worlds, telling the story of how Boston fared during the famous Martian invasion of 1938, using news bulletins and field reports and dramatic recreations to depict the amazing story of how a North End mobster, an MIT scientist, and the Massachusetts National Guard allied themselves to carry out one final strike against the Martians and drive them from the city! We were joined by Emperor Norton's Stationary Marching Band.

Our fourth Big Broadcast, at the Regent Theatre in Arlington was our grandest ever. Following the classic comedy and music on The Frank Cyrano Byfar Hour — and special appearences by Sean Connery and Julie Andrews — Frank and the gang learned the true meaning of the holidays in their own unique way, with their slightly skewed twist on Dickens' classic. Music was performed by Swing Café.