What better way to celebrate the holiday season than with a holiday-themed Romcom podcast? Yeah, there’s something very Hallmarky about it, and no matter what TV channel I switch to, I get nothing from generic Christmas-type movies that look like they were made by Hallmark. At this point, I just look for all the classics on streaming services, as it’s easier for me to manage. Hallmark movies are so predictable, you could put one together in your head. Well, with the help of A Classical Christmas Chord, you can listen right along and visualize your own cool characters.
A Classical Christmas Chord is all about a classical musician named Lena Chord, who finds herself working with an old ex-boyfriend from high school, Zack Sellers. They must work together to solve their issues, hers is to revive her music company and his to fix his reputation, which he has pretty much damaged through a lot of incidents. As they join forces, they also make an interesting connection and plunge further into the Christmas spirit.
I got a chance to talk to the two actors who played these roles, Nhi Do and Ian Ronningen who had a lot to say about the experience. Interestingly enough, these two talented individuals discovered they had some sort of connection when they both entered the first day wearing red sweaters. Hence the poster. At the same time, Nhi learned an instrument that exact same day and just might get into playing it more often. They weren’t the only ones who had so much vibrancy and fun while recording, as the cast and crew also got into the spirit of decorating the recording booth with Christmas lights even though the whole thing was recorded in October. Talk about Nightmare Before Christmas vibes.
I’ve got more to share on these two, so here we go. In the spirit of Christmas, you’d better watch out, you’d better not cry, you’d better not pout, I’m telling you why: Because this whole podcast will put you in the Christmas spirit! Don’t believe me? Grab some eggnog and read on.
HNMAG: So you were the leads on A Classical Christmas Chord. Do you both have experience in music?
Ian Ronningen: I have experience in musical theatre, growing up in high school, and continued doing that. I’ve also learned to play guitar over the last 10 years.
Nhi Do: I also starred in musical theatre, learned the very basics of piano, and actually was able to pull out a few notes of the violin.
HNMAG: Were you in the studio together for recordings or were your parts done separately?
Nhi Do: We got to record as an ensemble which was absolutely amazing, because I know a couple of productions in Vancouver are still recording individually in the booth, so then you would just hear the other roles play in your headphones. It was absolutely incredible to be able to act while looking at the person across the room and in real time work out that sort of chemistry.
Ian Ronningen: Yeah, look them in the eye, and make your choices from the page with what they’re giving you physically as well as audibly.
HNMAG: So you managed to get a good connection with the rest of the cast and crew during the recording?
Ian Ronningen: Yes.
Nhi Do: Oh, absolutely! It was always really fun. It was the most fun when we had 4-5 people?
Ian Ronningen: It was 4 mics we could have in total, so there were 4 of us at any given time but having everybody that we could for each individual scene. I think many scenes had more than 4 people at one time…
HNMAG: What did you do to prepare for your roles?
Ian Ronningen: I read through the script, made some choices, but a lot of the time it’s important with voiceover to be a fairly blank slate because you never know what your director is going to give you and Rhona (Rees) gave us a really solid structure on where she wanted the humour, love, and where we were in the world which was nice.
HNMAG: So Rhona was easy on you when working on recordings?
Ian Ronningen: Absolutely, she’s so much fun! If someone wasn’t with us in the booth, she would just throw something at us to make us laugh and launch us into a certain scene or to find the heart that would also guide us there.
Nhi Do: Yeah, Rhona was our voice director, she was also in it, playing Tulip Morris. So she had a very strong understanding of the script and another level of being a character in it.
HNMAG: Have you had previous experience with Romcoms?
Nhi Do: Yes, I have done Hallmark Christmas Romcoms for on-camera, but this would be my first time doing it in an audio format.
Ian Ronningen: I’ve been in a couple Hallmarks this past year as well, but I was not in the romantic lead’s position, I was mainly in the position of being a bit of an antagonist to the leads which is always fun as well. I had a little bit of that, but this was my first real foray into the world of Romcom and the lead.
HNMAG: How different was it to be doing a recording aside from a film?
Nhi Do: It was amazing, as Ian said in voiceover you have to have a bit more flexibility. Your biggest strength is really understanding your story beats and what’s happening in the scene, but something that was incredible too was that the writer and producer, Rana Shemirani, was really open to us changing lines and doing improv. I feel like there’s not as much flexibility for on-camera so that added another level of playfulness and that helps us with our chemistry and working together.
HNMAG: Did you have multiple roles on the podcast?
Ian Ronningen: We did.
Nhi Do: I did mostly walla because I was in almost all the scenes. Walla is when you do more crowd scenes. We did crowd scenes, children, and then it’s just layered afterwards.
HNMAG: What was your favourite part of being on this project?
Ian Ronningen: Just the fact that we got to be in the room together because it was fun from the moment we walked into the booth to the end of the day. I kept saying it over and over again, we’re going to miss these characters because it was so fun being there and we only recorded over 2 days.
Nhi Do: I think everyone genuinely wanted to be there. Earlier this year we had a strike, and I think work was a bit lean and it brought everybody together in a creative capacity and I really felt this sort of extra energy to be able to be creative with each other. On my side of things, I’m a bit new to voiceover so being able to work with people who are veterans was an extra level of joy for me to be in a wondrous loving circle.
HNMAG: Do you see yourself doing more podcasts like this?
Ian Ronningen: I would LOVE to do more of these, this was a lot of fun, it’s a different style of podcast. I love podcasts in general, I listen to them daily and none have really been this kind of serialized like a radio play. I think that it’s an untapped market and a lot of fun to do. If people catch on to it, it’s going to be a wonderful experience for everyone involved.
HNMAG: Would you have taken on the roles if it was done in a short film format?
Ian Ronningen: Absolutely.
Nhi Do: Yeah, of course!
HNMAG: Could you see this being made as a web series if possible?
Ian Ronningen: It was written initially around the intention of being a Hallmark-style movie and they decided it would be really great to take it in this other direction. It listens like a film, you can visualize what’s happening. Tulip tells you what’s happening as we go, but it absolutely could be a short film or full feature.
’Tis the Season to get listening, so check out this podcast. I know you’re not too busy, it is Christmas day after all. It’ll be something that’ll make you rock around the Christmas tree, and you’ll giggle all the way when you listen to it. Seriously, this is one of the best podcasts I’ve had the pleasure of listening to, and I enjoyed talking to these two to learn even more. I’m going to go listen to it again.
We wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.