George Bailey (Greg Glanville) talks to the penurious Mr. Potter (Brian Hayes) as the Baileys’ Bedford Falls friends look on. (Richard Dussault photo)
Calling it “a visual and aural memory lane vision of a bygone America,” Telegram & Gazette Reviewer Paul Kolas bestowed a wholehearted 3.5 stars (out of 4) on Stageloft Repertory Theater’s current offering of “It’s A Wonderful Life.”
To read the entire T&G review online visit this link. For a show schedule and to preorder tickets, visit our “It’s A Wonderful Life show page here.
No take on Frank Capra’s classic holiday tale is complete without a compelling George Bailey and his guardian angel, Clarence Oddbody, and Kolas salutes the fine work of Greg Glanville and Mark Bourdeau in those respective parts.
Glanville “fills the role with all-American sincerity and integrity”, according to Kolas, while a “playfully congenial” Bourdeau earns his angel’s wings.
The reviewer is especially taken by the later, life-renewed George, whom Glanville inhabits with “an unwound naturalness that might well put a lump in your throat.”
Brian Hayes brings the right touch of malice to his raspy-voiced Mr. Potter; Kolas also spotlights the all-around touches of Director Christine Taylor and Kayla Granger, who combine to present a well-rounded and nostalgic vision of the mythical Bedford Falls.
Kolas unwraps his biggest gift of praise for Rachel Weise’s “beautifully etched” portrayal of Mary Bailey. The Stageloft first-timer “fills the role with such lapidary emotional precision, and yet in a deceivingly carefree way, that she put this reviewer in mind of a young Mary Steenburgen,” he says.
The review also highlight Marie Daley’s bravura performance as the town tax collector, Miss Carter; the “robust good cheer” invested in Uncle Billy by David Vilandre; and Elana Fuentes’ “enticingly smoldering” take on George’s would-be paramour, Violet Peterson.
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