Top-notch cast elevates holiday favorite with old-timey twist

It’s a neat idea, to take a familiar story and stage it as a live-radio play, and this version of the warhorse Christmas movie It’s a Wonderful Life is a nice holiday option for those who want a bit of tinsel … but not too much. It’s the tale of George Bailey — a desperate small-town banker brought back from the edge by a helpful angel trainee who shows him how much love and friendship he’s fostered in his hometown.

Frank Capra’s 1946 film was based on a short story by Philip Van Doren called “The Greatest Gift,” which was in turn inspired by Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. In this story, the Scrooge is villainous rich guy Henry Potter, but it’s Bailey who gets the divine-intervention treatment. It’s always bothered me that old Scrooge gets a pass in the Dickens story for being nice for one day despite decades of monstrously bad behavior. With George Bailey, the guy who gets the magical push actually deserves it, making the payoff for Wonderful Life that much more relatable.

This 1997 stage version adaptation by Joe Landry imagines a group of five radio actors performing the story for a live audience from a NYC studio. It’s been produced many times in Colorado, and the production now up at Miners Alley Performing Arts Center is a worthy entrant boasting a stellar cast and creative team to bring it to life.

Director Len Matheo slow-rolls the intro by having the actors-playing-actors filter into the studio, exchanging greetings with audience members and each other while the Stage Manager (David Nehls, who also plays keys) fiddles with the sound effects equipment. It’s a neat effect that establishes the play-within-a-play setup and introduces the characters as themselves before they launch into portraying the many roles required of the story itself.

Matthew Combs as George Bailey and Rachel Turner as Mary in ‘It’s a Wonderful Life: A Life Radio Play.’ | Photo: Sarah Roshan Photography

Ups and downs in Bedford Falls

The small-but-mighty cast features a rarely seen appearance by the married couple Brik Berkes and Noelia Antweiler as Harry Heywood and Lana Sherwood. Both Equity actors have been wowing Colorado audiences in a variety of shows in the past few years, but this is the first time I’ve seen them onstage together. They’re joined by Matthew Combs playing Jake Laurents (George Bailey), Tim Fishbaugh as show host Freddie Filmore (and others) and Rachel Turner as Sally Applewhite playing George’s wife, Mary.

Staged on a simple, functional set designed by Jonathan Scott-McKean with the Foley table full of noise gadgets as the focal point, Wonderful Life is portrayed faithfully to the original film with just a bit of behind-the-scenes drama alongside. There’s a minor subplot involving jealousy between Lana and Sally over Jake and a few bloopers thrown in for comic effect, but mostly the action is telling the story of George Bailey and his complicated life in Bedford Falls, NY.

Combs does a fine job with the role, hinting with line delivery here and there to Jimmy Stewart’s iconic portrayal while still making it his own. It’s an iconic character everyone knows, and Combs is thoroughly convincing depicting the man’s humility, frustration, joy and sorrow. With the morality play at its core, the script also functions as a memoir of sorts, showing us a full life of ups and downs (OK, mostly downs) that makes the ending all the more powerful.

The live radio show element adds a good deal of levity as the actors jump around the mics and noise gadgets to color in the many scenes. Antweiler, we learn, is an excellent portrayer of baby noises and little-kid voices as her character Lana winks her way through the whole production. She also garners a lot of laughs as Ernie, the Brooklyn-voiced cabbie.

Miners Alley stalwart Fishbaugh is commanding as the narrator but also impressive as he juggles the conniving jerk Potter with George’s dimwitted uncle and other characters. Berkes plays Harry as the actor’s actor, relishing his way through everyone from George’s father to an Italian immigrant with an over-the-top accent. Turner takes a relatively two-dimensional character from the original and turns Mary Bailey into a complex woman who’s more than just the adoring, loyal wife to George.

Noelia Antweiler, Rachel Turner and Brik Berkes. | Photo: Sarah Roshan Photography

The production is well-served by the creative team, particularly with John Hauser’s sound design, Vance McKenzie’s lighting and excellent period costumes by Crystal McKenzie. Matheo’s direction is based in near-constant movement, painting a vivid picture of a living studio full of colorful characters enjoying their work. The effect is a tight, two-act show beautifully executed that will scratch the holiday itch for an uplifting story. It also reminds us that rich jerks who don’t give a fig about how their actions harm others have always been with us, but sometimes, the nice guy does OK in the end and, yes, the angel gets his wings.