Ella Briggs, Duke Lafoon and the cast                           Photo Credit: Diane Sobolewski

                        By Ed Lieberman

Christmas came early to the Goodspeed Opera House this year, in the form of a new production of A Wonderful Life, the Sheldon Harnick (book and lyrics)/Joe Raposo (music) adaptation of the iconic Frank Capra holiday film, It’s a Wonderful Life, which famously starred James Stewart, Donna Reed and Lionel Barrymore. 

This production tracks pretty closely the plot points of the film: George Bailey badly wants out of Bedford Falls, New York, his home town. As the show opens, he is happily preparing to leave for a vacation to Europe and then has plans to attend Cornell to become an architect. At his family’s dinner table, George makes light of the town and his father’s career as head of the Building and Loan. His father replies that he’s “One of the Lucky Ones,” who loves what he does and considers it important, allowing residents to live in their own homes in Bailey Park, not one of the slums (“Potter’s Field” pun no doubt intended), created by the spendthrift Mr. Potter, owner of the bank.

John T. Wolfe, Maddy Apple and the cast

That night, on what he thought was his last night in town, he attends a Charleston contest in which his brother Harry is competing. Two life-changing events happen at the contest: he is introduced by Harry’s date to Mary Hatch, who has a crush on him and is also going off to Cornell; and he finds out that his father has just had a stroke and died. Mr. Potter, who sits on the Savings and Loan Board, tries to dissolve the institution, but the Board votes to keep it open . . . provided George runs it. George, grieving and taking his father’s words to heart, reluctantly puts off his plans to go to college, instead giving Harry the money to go. Four years later, Harry is coming home and George once again plans to go off to college, but Harry surprises everyone with a wife who has gotten him a job in Pittsburgh. So George’s plans are put on hold again. At least Mary has come home and they resume their courtship. They get married and are about to go off on their honeymoon when . . . you guessed it, there is a run on the Savings and Loan, so George takes his honeymoon money and saves the association, with just $20 to spare. Exit honeymoon. Skip ahead a few years; Harry goes off to war and becomes a war hero. As Christmas approaches, the savings and loan is visited by a bank examiner for its annual audit.  George sends simple-minded uncle, Billy, to Potter’s bank with a large deposit, but becomes distracted and leaves it at a counter in the bank, where it is picked up by Mr. Potter, who sees an opportunity to finally get rid of his rival institution and embarrass George, his nemesis. At this point, George sees no way out and contemplates suicide, thinking that the world would be a better place had he never been born. For once, he has help, in the form of Clarence, a guardian angel-in-training. Clarence takes George on a Dickens’ Christmas Carol-type tour of the bleak, impoverished town and inhabitants as they would have been had he never been there. This being a holiday story, George changes his mind, his brother and the townspeople make up the deficit, and all live happily-ever-after, thereby earning Clarence his wings!

The Cast

The cast here is, as usual with Goodspeed, first-rate. Duke Lafoon, who plays George Bailey, has the earnest good looks necessary for the role of the long-suffering reluctant hero. One can feel his frustration at having his plans to get away stymied at every turn. And he can sing well enough to hold his own with Kirsten Scott, who plays Mary. Ms. Scott also has the acting chops to grow from an adoring teenager to a strong wife capable of supporting George as he endures the slings and arrows cast at him by the evil Mr. Potter, played by Broadway veteran Ed Dixon.

Kirsten Scott and Duke Lafoon

One can see the wheels turning in Mr. Dixon’s head as he contemplates Potter’s options in his long campaign to rid himself of the competition of the Savings and Loan. The supporting characters are also well-cast, including Logan James Hall, as George’s brother Harry, the largely ungrateful (until the end) beneficiary of George’s bad luck, Josh Franklin, as George’s high school classmate Sam Wainwright, and Michael Medeiros, as George’s befuddled Uncle Billy. George’s children are adorable and well played by Ben Stone-Zelman, Riley Briggs and Ella Briggs, but they are on stage so briefly as to not play a significant role.

Frank Vlastnik

One standout who merits special mention is Frank Vlastnik, who plays Clarence, George’s guardian angel-in-training. He kick-starts the second act with his number, “Wings,” and amply demonstrates that he was growing into his role as much as the mere mortals were. 

The problem with undertaking a faithful adaptation of such an iconic film is that virtually everyone who is coming to see the show has seen the movie and has high expectations which, given the limitations of theater, in general, and especially one with the jewel-box size stage of the Goodspeed, are exceedingly difficult to satisfy. As mentioned, for the most part, the production -- the cast, choreography (Parker Esse); musical accompaniment (Michael O’Flaherty, musical director; Dan DeLange, orchestrator; and Jay Hilton, sound design);  and especially the costumes, by Jennifer Caprio -- meet those expectations; but as a show, the production is hampered by a lackluster score with no memorable tunes (composer Raposo died several years before its first professional production), and cheap-looking sets, consisting of a brick wall backdrop and small set groupings on platforms wheeled on and off the stage to convey changes in scenes and locales (the lighting, by Scott Bolman, helps marginally). Perhaps this is the result of this production being a last-minute substitution for another show (The Honeymooners) that was scrapped from Goodspeed’s calendar in the Spring, but in the end, one doubts there is anything Goodspeed or anyone else can do to make this mediocre show into a truly exciting, memorable experience. Perhaps this is why A Wonderful Life has never made it to Broadway.

That said, this is a very pleasant holiday diversion, that left some in the audience weeping in the end. It is especially good for children old enough to have the patience to sit through the 2:20 (including one intermission) performance, with its focus on community, public service, family and sacrifice. 

A Wonderful Life continues through November 29th at the Goodspeed Opera House’s main stage, 6 Main Street East Haddam, CT. Curtain times are: Wednesdays and Thursdays: 2:00  and 7:30 pm; Fridays: 8:00 pm; Saturdays: 3:00 and 8:00 pm; and Sundays at 2:00 and 6:30 pm. Box Office: 860-873-8668