“You've got your wish. You've never been born.” --- Clarence
Stages Theater is doing a live radio version of “It’s a Wonderful Life” complete with foley artist and words from their sponsor, Ducks Toilet Cake©.
It’s quite something to see the the work and ingenuity that goes on behind the scenes of these old-timey radio shows. The timing between the actors, the piano, the foley artist, and background crowd noise people must be precise.
The famous film was released in 1946 and a radio broadcast immediately followed. Stages radio show is set in the post-war era. The cast are mostly excellent at portraying these Great Depression and WWII era characters. We really talked differently back then, before the 70’s and the 60’s and radical cultural change, but the story seems crisp and new. The stage becomes a soundstage
Everyone knows the story and it is often said to be a story of redemption. But what if it was something more. The great split in the two story lines are the worlds where George Bailey exists and the one where he doesn’t exist, where he had never been born. What if the point of the story was simply the value of man’s life? To be or not to be, was the choice given him, and he chose life. To live so that others may live. It all comes down to this. It is, after all, a wonderful life.
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