New Wolsey Theatre

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Duration

Post Show Talks (What's this?)

24 September 2009 - Your chance to ask the creative team some questions about this show

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Reviews

• It's a Wonderful Life

• The Sunday Times

  By John Peter

  4 Stars

• The Stage

  By Ben Sharratt

  With its despised banker and background of economic volatility, there was rarely going to be a more apt moment to launch the world premiere musical stage adaptation of It's a Wonderful Life. The question was could the travails of honourable George Bailey be given musical life without cloying sentimentality ruining the show's rhythm?

• Variety

  By David Benedict

  A New Wolsey Theater presentation in association with Avalon Promotions of a musical in two acts with music by Steve Brown, book and lyrics by Brown and Francis Matthews, based on the Republic Entertainment motion picture, inspired by Philip Van Doren Stern's short story "The Greatest Gift." Directed by Peter Rowe. Musical direction, Dane Preece.

• reviewsgate.com

  By Timothy Ramsden

  ... and it gets better with age.

• The Daily Mail

  Patrick Marmion

   

  HOLLYWOOD COMES TO TOWN...sort of

  It's A Wonderful Life (New Wolsey Theatre, Ipswich)
  Verdict: It's a wonderful show - 4 Stars

  The Shawshank Redemption (Wyndham's Theatre, London)
  Verdict: A stretch too far - 2 Stars

• www.onesuffolk.co.uk">www.onesuffolk.co.uk

  Paul Couch

  When movie director Frank Capra produced his James Stewart vehicle in 1946, he could have had little notion of what a classic it would become.

• Ipswich 24

  By Wendy Cook

   

  New musical World Premiere at New Wolsey, Ipswich

• Review from James Wade

  Student at East Bergholt High School

  The play is set in the fictional town of Bedford Falls just after World War II. It sees George Bailey preparing for his suicide on Bedford Falls' bridge, when, personal angel ‘Ace' shows. He then tells his angel how he dreams of escape, and how every time he tries to escape he is grabbed back in to everyday Bedford Falls life. This is shown by his ‘unsung hero' attitude in the Bedford Falls community, until he wishes he was never born. He then sees his true place and impact on Bedford Falls with and without George Bailey.

• Review from Lori Thurston

  Student at East Bergholt High School

  ‘It's a Wonderful Life' set from the 1920's till the late 1940's in the small American town of Bedford Falls, is the story of George Bailey, whose ambitions had been shattered by the suffocating demands of his unfulfilling life, causing him to resort to suicide.

• East Anglian Daily Times

  By Lynne Mortimer

  SHOW WAS WONDERFUL

• Plays International

  Basil Abbott

  From cornball 1940s film to feel-good musical proves a journey well worth the taking.

• The Evening Star

  By Lucia Aguilar-Gomez

   

  A WONDERFUL PRODUCTION OF A WONDERFUL LIFE

• BBC Suffolk Online

  By Jeff Allum

  It's a Wonderful Life is often called a timeless classic and will almost certainly be found towards the top of 'all time greatest film' lists. But will it work as a musical?

• The Evening Star