4 Photos
This Cultural Critic usually rolls her eyes and politely stays silent when the film “It’s a Wonderful Life” is praised, for she is no fan—way too saccharine for her. “Capra on overload!” is her flinty opinion. If she’d had a go at it when it was released in 1946, she would have been among the passel of pundits who panned it.
So.
With certain misgivings she entered the Southampton Cultural Center hall on Sunday afternoon, where she was enthusiastically greeted by a man of a certain age in a trench coat reminiscent of a past time—a man, however, not of her acquaintance. Yet one is courteous.
Then, the minute she walked into the Center Stage performance space, she was immediately charmed by more than a dozen actors in grandly authentic 1940s garb milling about on the stage. Even the lighting and sound guys were in costume. All were chatting among themselves, or greeting friends, or the occasional stranger, as above, and the result was infectious. This was going to be a good time.
Look! The ladies even have on seamed hosiery, which is what they were called back then. The boy is in knickers, someone’s wearing a luxe mink coat and hat of the kind her mother wore to church.
The announcer came on to warn that it was five minutes to air time and, to give those at home the feel of actually being in the theater, would the live studio audience please clap when the “APPLAUD” sign blinks?
Dear Reader, there are times when one must cast away the aspersions that lurk in one’s inner critic, who prefers satire to sweet and simply go-with-the-flow. What can I say, Joe Landry’s adaptation of “It’s a Wonderful Life” as a live radio play was quite delightful. It had it all—the humor, anxiety, sadness of what has turned out to be one of America’s most-loved films, the original nay-sayers be damned.
The story, for the odd fellow reading here who might not know, is that of George Bailey, a despondent man who wants to jump in the river and commit suicide. He thinks his life has turned out to be a disaster. There is, however, an aging angel named Clarence who is called upon to turn the tide and prevent George from doing the dastardly deed. To prepare Clarence for his task, he revisits a flashback of George’s life and all the good he has done, starting with saving his brother from drowning and ending by running the family business, The Bailey Brothers’ Building & Loan, with his generous heart. There is a good wife, along with three requisite children. In his hometown of Bedford Falls, George Bailey is beloved.
Of course, there must be a villain, a banker of ruthless commerce. As a side note, in 1947 at the height of the Cold War, someone in the FBI—whose name has been redacted—considered the film Communist propaganda and wrote in a memo that “the film represented rather obvious attempts to discredit bankers by casting Lionel Barrymore as a ‘scrooge-type’ so that he would be the most hated man in the picture.” Today, one supposes the redacted personage would not have approved of “The Wolf of Wall Street.”
As a 1940s play set in the time, and done as a 1940s radio show, everyone in the cast got a chance to ham it up, and that perfectly suited the local thespians who were having as good a time as the audience was. One could shut one’s eyes and simply listen as a radio audience, and let the emotions come tumbling through in the dark.
Forties music interspersed the dialog at times, and off to the side of the stage the sound effects crew were busily at it, opening and closing a door, swishing a bucket around in a barrel of water to enact the sound of George Bailey’s brother falling through the ice, rubbing together boxes of corn starch to elicit the sound of walking through the snow, and plinking a piano. Watching the action was part of the fun—and fun it was.
When it all came to an end an hour later, there were a few damp eyes in the audience. What if George Bailey had never lived, what if we had never lived? And, as director Michael Disher wrote in the program notes, “Consider and value every smile, twinkle, nod of a head, generous act of spirit and every human and human detail of this holiday season.”
Don’t forget to take the kids.
“It’s a Wonderful Life, A Live Radio Play”
Cast in alphabetical order: Daniel Becker as Clarence/Henry F. Potter; Rich Gardini as Billy Bailey/Sam Wainwright/Old Man Collins; Colette Gilbert as Rose Bailey/Old Man Gower; Kristin Guldi as Gloria; Barbara Jo Howard as Mary Hatch Bailey; Bill Kitzerow as Freddie Fillmore/Peter Bailey/Harry Bailey; Joan M. Lyons as Stage Manager/Miss Peabody; Christian McClain as Young George; Deborah Marshall as Young Mary; Robert Nelson as Joseph/Dr. Campbell; Tramar Pettaway as Bert/Young Harry; Amie Sponza as Mrs. Hatch/Ernie; Kristin Whiting as Matilda/Ruth Dakin Bailey; Scout Whiting as Zuzu Bailey; Edna Winston as Violet; and Scott Wilson as George Bailey.
Performances will continue on Friday, November 27, at 5 and 7 p.m. and Sunday, November 29, at 2 and 5 p.m. at the Southampton Cultural Center. Tickets are $20 and $10 for students age 21 and under with valid ID. For more information, call (631) 287-4377, or visit scc-arts.org.
on Nov 23, 2015