PicksInSix Review: It's a Wonderful Life: Live in Chicago!
It IS a Wonderful “Wonderful Life!”
You don’t have to be a sentimentalist to be moved by the residents of Bedford Falls who come around every year about this time to teach us a lesson or two about kindness, compassion and commitment. Small town virtues and familiar faces have a way of putting you in a comfort zone, as American Blues Theater’s stellar online radio show “It’s a Wonderful Life-Live in Chicago” proves again in just under 90 heartfelt minutes.
Even if you have seen this production in its’ earlier incarnations, you will be equally captivated by the performances of an ensemble who have been at this for years, as the signed title page of Maria Cahill’s film compilation reveals. My copy was left behind following a 2016 conversation with director Wendy Whiteside and Foley effects engineer, Shawn Goudie and the cast graciously returned it signed.
It was as clear then as it is now that this warm, sincere Chicago holiday tradition–reimagined live via Zoom–still bursts with homespun charm. And if you thought that a pandemic would stand as an obstacle to unpacking this year’s production, pull up a chair and join in.
George Bailey’s story is woven into the fabric of our culture. Experiencing the trauma and resolution in his life, as he realizes the lesson of the importance of one life to those of others, could not have more power and wield more emotional weight than it does right now. Brandon Dahlquist returns in a role that he has mastered on countless stages and now delivers one of his finest performances in this new and fast-evolving medium. Audrey Billings plays the innocent and demure Mary Hatch Bailey so perfectly that you believe at one point the two are listening cheek-to-cheek in the same room on the telephone with Michael Mahler’s tin can Sam Wainwright.
Arrive early so you can take part in the house party replete with song requests, audience participation and the lowdown about how it all works. Throughout the night, you may be left wondering just how many instruments the multi-talented Mahler can play—I unofficially counted six—and just how much fun it must be to enjoy the company of the captivating Dara Cameron every day. Together the real-life couple serve as anchors for the small-in-number—and enormous in talent and range—cast who play a dozen or more of the earth bound citizens who call Bedford Falls home and those watching from above.
From the familiar shout outs, virtual audience participation, local commercials and holiday songs, the new cast members—Billings and the brilliant Manny Buckley—and returning veterans—Goudie, a manically hilarious Ian Paul Custer and the immortal John Mohrlein, who has deftly played the roles of Clarence/Potter for all of the 19 years of the run—make it all feel like everything will turn out alright as long as we have Zuzu’s petals, a song to sing and bells to ring.
Based on the film by Frank Capra
Directed by Gwendolyn Whiteside
Music directed Michael Mahler
Original score by Austin Cook
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For more reviews, visit: Theatre In Chicago