Christmas with the Nashville Rep
It’s a Wonderful Show
It’s safe to assume that most Americans are familiar with It’s a Wonderful Life, whether they watch it every December or they have a hazy childhood memory of it. I won’t summarize the story here because you either already know it or have the rare chance to watch it with fresh eyes (in which case stop reading and go see the show). The 1946 film is based on a self-published short story and was critically acclaimed but a commercial disappointment. After its copyright wasn’t renewed it entered the public domain in the 1970s and could be broadcast without licensing fees. A delightful rarity: TV stations played a cheap movie and introduced the American public to what the American Film Institute has rated as the 20th best movie of all time.
An unfortunate tendency of many people is to assume that if a movie is in black-and-white, then it’s boring, and so they miss out. The Nashville Repertory Theatre has the perfect solution: they are performing Catherine Bush’s adaptation of the film. Now you can watch It’s a Wonderful Life while supporting local theater. Who needs Technicolor when you can have a live show? The adaptation is smooth and slightly streamlined. The scenes that were too slow for me as a child are trimmed, and so while the film is roughly 2 hours 10 minutes, the run time of the show (with intermission) is around 2 hours.
The characters are somewhat better behaved in this adaptation. George Bailey doesn’t shout as much, his ear doesn’t bleed when hit by the pharmacist (which horrified my husband as a boy), and for very obvious logistical reasons the dance contest doesn’t end up in an underground swimming pool, so Mary never loses her robe.
When going in to see an adaptation of a film, you’re always curious to see how the lines will be delivered. This show did a great job maintaining the characters without mimicking the inflection of actors from the film. There is no James Stewart impression. The only person who sounds like their character in the film is Mr. Potter, played by Matthew Carlton. His voice had much of the same timing and inflection along with the same accent. This actually worked really well; listening to him, I realized that while everyone else could really sound like anything, all Mr. Potters should sound like the original greedy miser.
The entire ensemble is strong and does an excellent job. Brian Charles Rooney as George Bailey does well, managing the balance of everyman frustration with admirable responsibility. His displays of anger or envy feel genuine and yet not malicious, and his joy at the end is infectious. Jennifer Whitcomb-Oliva leans into the goofiness of Clarence and the cluelessness of Uncle Billy’s character, giving the show an added lightness. Tamiko Robinson Steele as Mary captures her sweet nature, her joyfulness and her care for others. Garris Wimmer as Ernie and others is especially funny. Eve Petty is hilarious during her delightfully horrible rendition of “Hark the Herald Angels Sing.” 
Since everyone except George plays multiple different characters, the excellent costumes are period clothing, making each character distinctive. Since the play is an adaptation of a film that’s supposed to take place over several decades, scenes are fluid and the pieces used to designate the locations are fun: including a brass barred teller desk, a barroom, mullioned windows, the steel beams of a bridge. My favorite prop is Mr. Potter’s wheelchair, which is wooden and brass and moves smoothly. There was one mishap at the performance I attended: when Garris Wimmer pulled two low stools across the stage to mark the taxi, one of them collapsed several times before it broke apart beneath him. There was a great moment of humor as he simply pretended to sit. Later on in the show he brought out a new stool for his taxi seat and gave it a hearty slap to prove its sturdiness, getting a big laugh from the audience and emphasizing the fun of live theater.
Gary C. Hoff’s scenic design is once again lovely, setting the stage with silhouettes of the town of Bedford Falls and streetlamps at both sides of the stage, with a gentle line of snow marking the edge of the stage.
I saw the matinee performance on Saturday, December 7th. TPAC’s Polk Theater was well-populated but not as full as it should have been, although that may have been because it was their afternoon show. I highly recommend a matinee showing: parking is easier, there’s no dinner rush or sleepiness.
While It’s a Wonderful Life is an old story, it’s delightfully fresh. In a time of radical individualism, it’s restorative to see a story where the main character sacrifices his ambitions in order to help others: George Bailey gives up his dreams of travel and glamour to live in his hometown and protect his community from a greedy rich businessman. Instead of demanding his rights, he does the right thing. And at the end we get to see how his sacrifice is reciprocal. He sees the real impact he has made in people’s lives and he experiences the love and generosity and praise of everyone around him who loves him for who he is. This story is particularly fitting at Christmas, which is a time to focus on ultimate acts of generosity and goodwill to all. Director Alicia Lark Fuss says in her program notes, “As I move through the stages of my own life, different parts of George’s experiences resonate in new ways. But in the end, I’m always left thinking about how much it matters that we take care of each other. The people in our lives and the way we show up for them is what it’s really all about.”
The Nashville Repertory Theatre have provided yet another wonderful show, and you’ll want to see it! It’s a Wonderful Life will be in TPAC’s Polk Theater through December 21. Check out their website for more information. Merry Christmas!
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A Nashville native and MTSU graduate, Grace Krenz is a reader, a writer, and an arts enthusiast. She lives in Nashville with her husband and two children.
