It’s a Wonderful Life in Bellevue – at Least for a While

 

It’s amazing what a troupe of dedicated performers and their support crew with limited resources but lots of heart can do. The Pittsburgh Savoyards, now staging a production of It’s a Wonderful Life, is a good example of tapping into talent and dedication to produce positive, if not praiseworthy, theatrical results.

          Working with the rather small stage of the Margaret Partee Performing Arts Center in Bellevue, the Savoyards have assembled an amazing cast of 30 (if my count is correct) plus nine carolers to recapture the spirit of Frank Capra’s 1946 now classic, holiday film of the same title.

          Just as in the film, the opening scene shows George Bailey (Mike Goffus) so distraught and dejected by life and personal misfortunes, alone and contemplating suicide on Christmas Eve. Just when events seem darkest, his guardian angel, Clarence Odbody (Stuart McNiell) shows up hoping to intervene.

          To help set things right for the hopeless victim of circumstance, Odbody plans to show George the positive effects his life has had on numerous people, starting with his brother, Harry (Jack Bragg). As a 12-year-old, Baily rescued Harry who had fallen into a frozen pond.

          Years later, Harry, in turn, prevented a kamikaze attack on his ship during World War Two, saving many additional lives. As a youth, George also prevented the accidental poisoning of one of his employer’s customers by means of a faulty prescription.

When George mentions to Clarence that he would have been better off if he had never been born, Clarence shows him the alternative course of events that would have taken place instead. Harry would have drowned in the pond, his fellow seamen would never have been saved from the kamikaze attack and his pharmacist employer, Mr. Gower (Phil Hayes) would have been convicted of manslaughter because George wasn’t there to save the customer from being poisoned.

Part of the reason, George is so distraught is the fact that he’s threatened with financial ruin and criminal indictment due to his Uncle Billy’s (John Henry Steelman) careless loss of $8,000 of George’s business finances. Uncle Billy, it seems, had carelessly placed the envelope that carried the money into a newspaper he gave to George’s nemesis, Henry F. Potter (Kevin B. McGuire) by mistake.

The unscrupulous Potter realizes the mistake, but fails to hand the funds back over to the rightful owners. Instead, he maliciously phones the police and charges George with mismanagement of funds and more.

The Cast of It's a Wonderful Life Courtesy Photo

Previously George had weathered a run on his savings and loan association when his investors raced to withdraw their holdings. Katie Kirby as Violet Peterson does an especially effective portrayal of someone in panic mode about her holdings.

Someone buttressing George through thick and thin is his childhood sweetheart, Mary Hatch (Leah Grimm), whom he eventually marries. Another stalwart he can count on his mother (Heather Rupert) whose maternal instincts are unfaltering.

Most every drama has its villain, and McGuire as Potter certainly fills the bill. Unscrupulous and greedy, he’s almost Scrooge-like in detestability. Unfortunately, James W. Rogers, who adapted the film for the stage, doesn’t include a comeuppance for the avaricious rogue.

Mike Goffus as George Bailey Courtesy Photo

    If you’ve seen the film, and who hasn’t, you’ll be tempted to compare Goffus with Jimmy Stewart in the role of George, but you’d be comparing apples and oranges. With images of Stewart as the cinematic  George dancing in my head, I found the staged George surprisingly delightful. Competent and self-assured, Goffus put a new and refreshingly valid spin on the role. Note: Several roles including that of George, are played by alternate actors in several performances.

The same can be said of McNeil as the angel in search of his wings. McNeil doesn’t hesitate to expose his self-serving involvement in saving George’s life. If successful, his guarding angel status will be upgraded by gifting him his wings. His is a delicate balance of showing his concern for George’s life with his personal goal of becoming a fully developed angel.

Give director Babrbara Burgess-Lefebvre credit for blocking, at least, on the actor-filled stage as well as technical director/scenic designer, Robert Hockenberry, for making each scene as evocative as possible with a minimum of props.

Even if you’ve seen It’s a Wonderful Life a myriad of times, it’s a tale that never seems to get old or stale. Seeing it on stage should be a novel and fresh experience for the many devoted fans of the film as well.

The Pittsburgh Savoyards’ production of It’s a Wonderful Life is at the Margaret Partee Performing Arts Center, 523 Lincoln Avenue, in Bellevue, through December 20.  For tickets and more information, go to https://pittsburghsavoyards.org/.