The holiday season brings many things, including some important seasonal debates. Real tree or fake? Multi-colored lights or just white? Your family, the in-laws or both? And among those yearly discussions is which holiday theatrical production to enjoy. This year, if you choose to see just one holiday play or musical during the season, the one to see is at Ocean State Theatre Company.
It's the holiday season and SCERA Center for the Arts is preparing to show audiences that it's also the season for a wonderful life when it presents the classic Frank Capra story in musical form tonight, Dec. 4-19 at 7:30 p.m.
Actor/writer Jason Lott and writer Helen Murray Pafumi collaborated on writing Wonderful Life currently onstage at the Malibu Playhouse. I caught up with both of them to see how all of this got started and what they feel they have accomplished with their Christmas play. What motivated both of you to adapt It's a Wonderful Life? JL: Honestly, it was all Helen's idea. She wanted to do a one-person holiday show at her theatre, but wasn't finding the right script. She approached me about doing the show (whatever it might turn out to be) and mentioned that she was planning to adapt It's A Wonderful Life. I asked if she'd mind if I co-wrote it with her and she was gracious enough to say 'Yes.' You could make the argument that I only asked to co-write because I knew it would be easier to memorize that way, but that's only half-true (because, honestly, it is easier for me to memorize something I've written). The other side is that I only knew a little bit about It's A Wonderful Life. I knew it was an 'American classic' and I knew that I loved Jimmy Stewart's work in other movies, but the embarrassing fact is that I'd only seen bits and pieces over the years. I'd never watched the whole thing in one sitting. Once I did, though, I fell in love with the movie and absolutely wanted to help bring that story to the stage.
In a departure from traditional seasonal fare, two local theater companies are bringing us back to the simpler days of yesteryear, staging live radio productions of Christmas shows set in the 1940s. Stoneham Theatre offers the frothy, musical bagatelle CHRISTMAS ON THE AIR while Merrimack Repertory Theatre presents an adaptation of the holiday film classic, IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE: A LIVE RADIO PLAY. Replete with evocative sound effects and on-air commercial messages, both plays invite audience participation for applause and a range of emotional reactions, to replicate a live studio broadcast.
Professional actor Jeremy Kendall stars in the hilariously touching one-man tour-de-force THIS WONDERFUL LIFE, a stage adaptation of the iconic holiday film 'It's A Wonderful Life' by Steve Murray, at the Ware Center on Thursday and Friday, December 10-11, at 7:30 p.m. both nights. Directed by Dan Deal, the play brings to life over 32 familiar people in an amazing display of physical and verbal virtuosity. Kendall portrays the Jimmy Stewart-inspired George Bailey and the whole cast of loveable characters from Bedford Falls, including Clarence the Angel, Mary, Zuzu and all of the townsfolk who rely on him to save them from the greedy Mr. Potter. The Ware Center is located at 42. N. Prince Street, Lancaster.
The 1946 Frank Capra film It's a Wonderful Life was based on the short story The Greatest Gift by Philip Van Doren Stern, published in 1945. Now there is a stage adaptation, a solo show in which actor/co-writer Jason Lott portrays George Bailey and all the characters who surround him in Bedford Falls, New York. Nominated for a Helen Hayes Award in Washington D C, Lott is an actor who can play both men and women exceedingly well by simply switching his voice to a higher or lower register. In Wonderful Life he intones, just to take one example, Mary Hatch and George Bailey on the phone talking to Sam Wainwright, as the two realize for the first time that they are falling in love with each other. It's a heart-tingling moment for fans of the movie... and also for those unfamiliar with the scene, for Lott proves an uncanny ability to capture the image of innocence and raw emotion of that special moment.
After nearly fifty years of leadership under Michael Price, the new executive director begins making his mark.
Broadway Palm is welcoming the holiday season with A Wonderful Life playing tonight, November 26 through December 26, 2015. This heartwarming production is a musical adaptation of the classic holiday film It's A Wonderful Life by Frank Capra. Bring the entire family for an uplifting tale that is brought to vibrant theatrical life and celebrates the kindness in all of us.
American Blues Theater, Chicago's second oldest Equity ensemble, is proud to announce the return of the critically acclaimed IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE: LIVE IN CHICAGO!, on the main stage of the Greenhouse Theater Center, 2257 N. Lincoln Ave., now through December 27. The opening night performance is tonight, Nov. 25 at 7:30p.m. BroadwayWorld has a look at the cast in action below!
From the cobblestone streets of London and the islands off the Irish coast, to the halls of Harvard and clamor of the second Continental Congress, Artistic Director, Mark Abram-Copenhaver, is proud to announce the 2016 season at the South Bend Civic Theatre.
After presenting IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE: The Radio Play for nearly 20 years in Cranford and Maplewood, The Theater Project will present its annual holiday production in Union for the first time - thanks to the hospitality of Unity Bank. The show will be performed in the bank's Stuyvesant Avenue branch, with the support of Union's Downtown Improvement District, and a Union County HEART grant.
A Judy Garland-worn “Dorothy” dress from the world-renowned film, The Wizard of Oz, fetched $1.56 million including premium at Bonhams New York today as part of Treasures from the Dream Factory
American Blues Theater, Chicago's second oldest Equity ensemble, is proud to announce the return of the critically acclaimed IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE: LIVE IN CHICAGO!, on the main stage of the Greenhouse Theater Center, 2257 N. Lincoln Ave., now through December 27. The opening night performance is this Wednesday, Nov. 25 at 7:30p.m. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the cast in action below!
It's the holiday season and SCERA Center for the Arts is preparing to show audiences that it's also the season for a wonderful life when it presents the classic Frank Capra story in musical form Dec. 4-19 at 7:30 p.m.
George Bailey's struggle to grasp why life is worth living finds a fresh voice in this imaginative one-person retelling of Frank Capra's classic film It's a Wonderful Life. Penned by Helen Pafumi and Jason Lott, this memory play introduces a new generation to the residents of Bedford Falls, New York on a fateful Christmas Eve in 1945. Wonderful Life is a heartwarming story about the effect one man's sacrifices have on the people and town he loves.
Bucks County Playhouse will cap its 2015 season with the return of the popular holiday classic, 'It's a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play' by Joe Landry. The show will run at Bucks County Playhouse (70 S. Main Street, New Hope, PA) December 11 - 27, 2015.
It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas at the Bangor Opera House-Christmas, circa 1946-as Penobscot Theatre Company prepares to immerse audiences in the world of George Bailey, the everyman hero of Frank Capra's cinematic classic. 'With lively music, Foley sounds, and a bevy of colorful characters, this production tells the story we all know and love within the story of a 1940s celebrity-studded radio program, within the world of post-war America,' explains Producing Artistic Director Bari Newport.
It's Christmas Eve 1946 in Washington, DC and you've ventured out into the cold with your family to the local radio station to see a live performance of Frank Capra's yet-to-be-classic, It's a Wonderful Life. Taking the stage among dozens of sound effects tools are some of your favorite local radio actors, ready to immerse you in the idealized world of Bedford Falls and the life of the town's hero, George Bailey. As the five actors and one foley artist take you through the sentimental story, they portray dozens of characters and create dozens more sounds as your imagination is left to paint the full picture.
One wonderful actor plays 36 wonderful characters in a clever and loving adaptation of the classic Frank Capra film, 'It's a Wonderful Life.'
El proximo 30 de noviembre, conoceremos quien se hace con el galardon a la Mejor Actriz Principal en la quinta edicion de los Premios del Publico BroadwayWorld Spain que acogera el madrileño Teatro Bodevil (Calle del General Orgaz, 17). ¿Sera Ana San Martin por MAR I CEL? ¿Mireia Mambo o Àngels Gonyalons por SISTER ACT? ¿O, tal vez, Claudia Traisac por LA LLAMADA? ¡Tu decides!
Videos
