Peg and I saw the last dress rehearsal of It’s a Wonderful Life – a live radio play on Thursday evening, the night before the official opening. The last dress rehearsal is a chance to shake the fear out of the actors, the director, and all the stage hands.
The premise of this production is that then entire production is a live radio show of It’s a Wonderful Life, the Christmas chestnut some may say, I always look for it. We see the actors scrambling around with scripts in hands.
Evan Collier was new to both Peg and I. He had the most lines in the play. His trendy, well-kept older man was a man of many voices. He adjusted his timber of his voice appropriately for each one.
Joseph Grant is an old timer on stage. We talked a few minutes before the rehearsal began. He looked familiar. Then in the notes I saw that he had been in Tacoma Little Theatre’s The Shawshank Redemption. Peg and I saw and reviewed the production at TLT and really enjoyed the production as well as Joseph’s presentation.
Ellie Jay McKee had a very nice part in this production. I think she may have been the shortest actress on the stage. In reality that brought the eyes to her presentation. She came across very nicely. The red dress was a wise choice as well.
The radio production efforts held everything together, from movement to walking around and the personalities of each were clear. The original version was outstanding and effective. The decades between do nothing to hinder the storyline.
Joseph Walsh is the fairly new head of Lakewood Theatre. He’s been doing a nice job with the theatre . . . and we will see more new ideas coming as well. His first productions spoke well for him . . . and we hope he continues as well. – https://www.lakewoodplayhouse.org/
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