Performed as a 1940s radio play, ‘It’s A Wonderful Life’ showcases backstage drama. This scene features Matthew Sarnovsky and David Giordano (front), and Walter Mitchell (back).
Angel Berlane Mulcahy, On My Cue Photography and Productions
Presentatation to come in style of 1940s radio drama
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‘It’s A Wonderful Life’ opens Dec. 6 at Little Theatre of Wilkes-Barre. Among the cast members are Michael Ortiz, Miriah Kohn and Gina Sabatini Mattei.
Angel Berlane Mulcahy, On My Cue Photography and Productions
The cast of ‘It’s A Wonderful Life’ looks forward to being ‘on air’ and on stage at Little Theatre of Wilkes-Barre, from Dec. 6 through Dec. 15.
Angel Berlane Mulcahy, On My Cue Photography and Productions
“Crickets chirping,” Dan Beeferman said as he ran a fingernail along the teeth of a comb.
“Popping a champagne cork,” he said with a laugh as he fired a cork out of a toy gun.
“Everybody’s donating money,” he said, dropping quarters onto a tray.
Beeferman, of Swoyersville, will be responsible for the sound effects when Little Theatre of Wilkes-Barre presents “It’s A Wonderful Life” as a 1940s-style radio drama, from Dec 6 through Dec. 15.
If you are wondering how he’ll create the splashing sound that means guardian angel Clarence has jumped into a river so that despairing human George Bailey will be obliged to rescue him, that’s a trick he can accomplish with a small bowl and a larger bucket of water.
When she worked in local radio years ago, cast member Carol Warholak Sweeney of Dallas said, “I always used to say, I wish the listeners could see what goes on behind the scenes.”
Now they’ll have their chance.
And while it “wouldn’t be very interesting to simply watch people reading” lines of a radio script, director David Parmelee of Shavertown said before a recent dress rehearsal, the audience at Little Theatre will be able to observe rivalries and wordless flirtations among the radio actors.
“It’s multi-layered,” he said. If you count the sound effects, “It’s like three shows in one.”
Of course, there is the storyline, familiar to many, about a man named George Bailey who is sometimes bitter about the sacrifices he has made in his life but who maybe hasn’t noticed that along the way he earned the love and gratitude of family, friends and an entire community.
“He is just a good person,” said Michael Ortiz of Wilkes-Barre, who portrays, among other characters, the young George Bailey who prevents the local druggist from making a fatal mistake — and endures an undeserved blow to his sore ear.
“I watched the movie for the first time a month ago, with my parents, and it was WONDERFUL,” said Dave Giordano of Exeter, whose character in the radio drama gives voice to the adult George Bailey.
Jimmy Stewart portrayed George Bailey in the 1946 movie version, and Giordano said he occasionally pays homage to the late actor during the Little Theatre production, giving his voice a Jimmy Stewart sound when George asks Mary if she wants him to lasso the moon and when George tells his mother he intends to do some “passionate necking.”
“I love playing with voices,” said Matt Sarnovsky of Forty Fort, who will portray angel Clarence, absent-minded Uncle Billy and Martini, the owner of the local bar.
Toni Jo Parmelee, wife of director David Parmelee, likewise gives voice to several characters, and is a great fan of classic radio dramas.
“You can hear them on Sirius XM,” she said, noting that “Gunsmoke” and “Dragnet” were radio shows before they became television shows.
One of her favorite radio actresses, Georgia Ellis, “could put more meaning into the syllables of a word,” Toni Jo Parmelee said.
Another radio actress, Virginia Gregg, was “just remarkable” for her versatility. “She’d be a drunk in a bar, then a young housewife, then a crotchety old lady … between those two girls, I learned a lot.”
Speaking of crotchety old ladies, while the movie had a crotchety old man who yelled from his porch at a young George and Mary, Toni Jo Parmelee will portray an annoyed older woman who yells, “Youth is wasted on the young.”
Parmelee also will portray George Bailey’s mother, and his little daughter, Zuzu, the one with the famous line about an angel getting his wings.
“I’m a sucker for the supernatural aspect, the alternate reality,” said cast member Gina Sabatini Mattei of Forty Fort. “It makes you reflect.”
The story also tends to make people cry, David Parmelee said, remembering how he and his wife watched the movie for the first time, probably on WVIA, at 2 a.m., early one morning in 1977. “By the end of the movie, we were in tears.”
Many fans of the movie will agree it makes them cry, and that it feels like happy tears.
For an aspect of the show likely to make you laugh, wait for the vintage advertising jingles that several women in the cast will sing when it’s time for a commercial.
“I love singing,” said Miriah Kohn of Hanover Township, who will harmonize about hair tonic and other old-time products when she’s not portraying Mary’s some-time rival for George’s affections, “Violet Bick, small-town siren.”
Little Theatre will present “It’s a Wonderful Life” Dec. 6 through Dec. 15 with shows at 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 3 p.m. Sundays at its historic venue, 537 North Main St., Wilkes-Barre. Tickets are available at ltwb.org/.