It’s always nice to see a familiar face during the holidays, isn’t it? While the cast of Next Act Theater’s production of It’s a Wonderful Life Live Radio Show may not know members in the audience, faithful Milwaukee theatergoers certainly know them. Together, the show’s six actors have a combined total of hundreds of hours onstage in Milwaukee.
In this crisply done version of “It’s a Wonderful Life,” we are treated to a very familiar story and a cast of veterans to perform it. However, a key phrase in the show’s title, “Live Radio Show,” indicates that this is an unusual retelling of the famous Frank Capra film, starring Jimmy Stewart and Donna Reed.
This play takes audiences back to the time when Milwaukee was almost in the same era as the film’s fabled Bedford Falls. It’s Christmas Eve in 1957, and a cast of radio actors are doing their final broadcast of the Usinger Sausage Story Hour. Many of these characters have worked together for almost 20 years, and they face their final hours together with more than a trace of sadness.
Stan, one of the radio actors, targets television as the culprit behind the program’s demise. “Won’t last,” predicts the grumpy Stan. “TV is too expensive.”
Although Stan may have been off-base about TV’s future, he and the others are right to mourn the passing of delightful radio shows that made audiences use their imaginations. To illustrate, a whole repertoire of sound effects surround the characters. Working together, the characters create the sounds of a busy night at Martini’s bar, or a loud crack as a young Harry Bailey falls through the ice.
Two of Milwaukee’s best-known actors, Mary MacDonald Kerr (who also wrote the adaptation) and Norman Moses, team up as George and Mary Bailey. Along the way, the audience learns an inside joke: that the radio actors are former lovers who parted many years ago due to a spat. It lends an extra bit of tension and interest to the proceedings.
The other parts are divided among four actors. Stan, played by artistic director David Cecsarini, probably juggles the biggest load. He plays key characters such as Mr. Gower and Mr. Martini while simultaneously making most of the show’s special effects. He is so smooth at reading a part while also slamming a “door” or “breaking” a vinyl record album that one almost forgets the skill necessary to perform all these tasks. Likewise, actor Bo Johnson must become Bert the cop or little Peter Bailey at a moment’s notice. As he speaks, another actor creates a musical backdrop by trilling a set of chimes or playing a few chords on a nearby piano.
Perhaps the funniest chameleon is Debra Babich, especially when she plays Violet, George Bailey’s curvy classmate who makes no effort to hide her interest in him. Within a minute or so, Babich must change her voice entirely to become George’s mother and, later, George’s youngest child, little Zuzu. Since the audience can see as well as hear all this behind-the-scenes action, it makes the familiar story even more engaging. Almost every time “Zuzu” speaks in her squeaky, high-pitched voice, it elicits a hearty laugh from the audience since we can see the matronly woman delivering the lines.
The other actors are equally good, as indeed they must be in this close-knit ensemble. Basically, everyone is onstage all the time. The characters take audiences through the story of George’s life: his dreams, his many disappointments and his thoughts of suicide when he finally reaches the end of his rope. Of course, it is a soft-spoken angel named Clarence who gets George to see how we all touch so many other lives during our own lifetime.
It’s a classic story given a charming twist, and one hopes to see future productions of this family-friendly show for many holidays to come.
