Unless you've been living under a rock for the past 70+ years, you'll know Frank Capra's 1946 film It's a Wonderful Life [some afficionados can quote extensively from it verbatim], so there will be few revelations in re-telling the narrative of George Bailey's Christmas Eve journey from despair and potential suicide to his reclamation through the efforts of Angel Second-class Clarence, who shows him that life in Bedford Falls would have been very different if George had never been born.
The film has been a holiday staple for decades, and staged versions have graced River Region stages twice since 2014. And now, once again here comes Joe Landry's heartwarming adaptation: It's a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play on the Alabama Shakespeare Festival's Octagon Stage. -- This iteration re-imagines the story as a 1946 radio transmission, with five actors each playing numerous characters while also working as Foley-artists who supply all the sound effects from strategically placed props -- a lot of work. [Close your eyes for a while to get the feeling that you're listening to an actual radio broadcast -- nostalgia for some, and a new experience for others].
In a fast-paced hour and forty minutes, director Kate Bergstrom locates the script's "Playhouse on the Air" in "ASF Studio", incorporates familiar local references as well as "commercials" for Chris' Hot Dogs and Liger's Bakery into the mix, and has us conscripted as the radio station's audience with lighted signs for "Applause" at signal moments of the plot.
An-Lin Dauber's grand, detailed, and multi-leveled set is dressed for the holidays and becomes another "character" in the staging; Val Winkelman's period-perfect costumes compliment the assorted roles each of the five actors must play, with simple adjustments or additions of hats, coats, or collars to specify a character.
The versatility of the acting company is on full display throughout. William DeMeritt [George Bailey +], Evan Andrew Horwitz [Clarence +], Jimmy Kieffer [Mr. Potter +], Madeline Lambert [Mary +], and Cassandra Lopez [Violet +] are a fine-tuned ensemble who tell the story with heartfelt aplomb. They are abetted by Brooke Morgan as the Station's Production Assistant, Belinda.
As George's predicament is told in flashback sequences from his childhood on to the present, we see his unfulfilled dreams, and the sacrifices he made that bring him to the brink of bankruptcy and despair, believing he is worth more dead than alive. But there are lessons to be learned through laughter and tears that his kindness to others and being a man of principle compel the community to rally around him in his need and show him that he is "the richest man in town".
