Directed by and Starring Mike Randall
Mike Randall’s production of Charles Dickens Presents: A Christmas Carol has been a huge success since its premiere in 2007. Giving more than 180 performances across Western New York in the last eighteen holiday seasons, and premiering at MusicalFare Theatre, audiences and critics agreed that it was great to have Mr. Dickens back in Western New York!
A lover of Buffalo history and presenter of one-person shows, when Mike Randall discovered that Charles Dickens performed in Buffalo in 1868, he decided to recreate Mr. Dickens’ presentation of his most well-known story, A Christmas Carol. What Randall finds most intriguing about Dickens and his Readings is the way the author threw himself into the performances, not just reading the words but becoming the characters on stage. At one time, Charles Dickens had almost become a professional actor. Even when he pursued writing instead, he continued to produce and perform in “amateur theatricals.” His close actor friends repeatedly claimed that Dickens could have easily made a successful career on the stage. The Dickens Readings were not only an outlet for this amateur actor, but they also became an absorbing and entertaining tour de force, a blending of author/actor creating wonderful magic on stage.
Mike Randall has performed a variety of roles in theatres around the country, and he continues to perform his critically acclaimed, one-man portrayal of Mark Twain Live! Mike also spent time as the Marvelous Magical Burger King, where he perfected his abilities as a magician and live family entertainer. Mike Randall is also a member of the Puppeteers of America. Mike Randall may be best known for his forty-year (1983-2023) career locally on WKBW-TV as an award-winning feature reporter and Chief Meteorologist. He was inducted into the Buffalo Broadcasters Hall of Fame in September 2017.
Mike attended Onondaga Community College for radio and TV and SUNY Geneseo for theatre arts. He received his Certificate in Broadcast Meteorology from Mississippi State University and earned both the American Meteorological Society and National Weather Association Seals of Approval. He is the only local TV meteorologist to hold both seals! A career highlight for Mike was filling in for Spencer Christian on ABC’s Good Morning America.
