BWW Reviews: IT'S A WONDRFUL LIFE- THE MUSICAL

I arrived early and stood in line with others to go into the theatre. I stood listening to the excitement. I was excited too, I do love community theatre. In my mind, the purpose of community theatre is to enjoy and love entertaining others (and sometimes yourself in the process).

This is true with the production by Starlight Mountain Theatre of IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE: THE MUSICAL. Starlight Mountain Theatre's cast and crew are spread across the valley. For them to put together a show of any caliber is an incredible act and they put on a good Christmas show.

IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE: THE MUSICAL is based on the movie starring Jimmy Stewart. It was adapted by Doug Rand. It was pretty faithful to the story: only a few lines missing here, a short scene there - nothing that took away from the story. The play is the sweet story of the love between George Bailey and Mary and George's determination to live an adventurous life, while living a full life without realizing it.

The cast all did a wonderful job with their parts. I would give kudos to those actors who played: George Bailey [Josh Valencia], Mary Hatch Bailey [Brittney Byrne] and Mr. Potter (so mean he doesn't deserve a first name) [Dale Hoopes]. They had wonderful full voices and they played the many levels of each character. It was a good choice to do the production straight and not try to imitate the actors from the film, they made it their own. The entire cast was full voiced and they sounded good together. Some of the songs were a bit kitschy, maybe even corny but they were sung with love and enjoyment and that made them enjoyable.

The sets were simple; they only used props and furniture. It worked. I am not sure if it was because we all knew the story already from having seen it every year since childhood or if it is just that strong of a story. Regardless, the set was not missed that much.

They did have some technical difficulties with the sound system. I would guess that when you only have one day in a space before your performance, it can be hard to work out the bugs before you perform. The performance was held at Kuna High School Performing Arts Center.

I thoroughly enjoyed my afternoon being entertained by Starlight Mountain Theatre. They gave a performance with the heart the size of any Broadway actor on the stage today on the shoestring budget of a community theatre.

Photo Taken By Krista Carroll (who also played Ma Bailey)

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