By Lynne Mortimer
SHOW WAS WONDERFUL
IF you don't leave the New Wolsey glad to be alive and counting your blessings then you need to go and see the show again.
This touching and sentimental Christmas story is a feelgood movie classic and in this reinvention as a stage musical it retains its gentle magic.
We see how the human spirit can triumph when it is steadfastly good, and we experience the warmth of a gentle undercurrent that approves the notion of society over the individual.
George Bailey is a steady, stay-at-home boy who takes on the rocky family business, marries a local girl and never quite makes it to college, unlike his younger football star, war hero brother.
The show opens as he teeters on the parapet of a bridge, about to jump. But then an angel intervenes and we learn what brings him to the edge of despair on a flashback journey through his life. Then we see what would have happened if George had never been born.
The musical is sung through with the small patches of dialogue underscored.
The film - not a musical - starred Jimmy Stewart as George and it is his central performance that people remember. The quiet, constant, noble and thoroughly honest man who is dealt one rotten hand too many and snaps.
Paul Thornley's George has the strength of character needed for us to believe in him. He is as endearing as James Stewart - only with a better singing voice.
Paul Leonard's irredeemably evil Potter, George's arch-nemesis, is a bitter, grasping, greedy, deceitful tour-de-force. He sings with a deep resonance that gives full rein to the sarcastic wit of the lyrics.
Ace - the angel - a part that demands an actor to sing and fly at the same time is omnipresent in the story. Here a photographer, there a guest. Happily, Jo Servi has both the voice of an angel and a heavenly presence.
As George's wife, Mary, Helen Anker is the pretty, sweet-voiced girl next door. Mary sings the delightful That's What I Wished For after donating their entire savings to the local community.
In a cast of fantastic singers, Kerry Washington stands out in the song she sings over her son's grave and the young cast does excellent job. Among them, Harry Salter, as young George, gives a fine performance, howing us the man George will become.
Faithful to the movie, the action has much of its measured pace, enhanced by wonderfully atmospheric lighting and sound, which lends a compelling quality to the look and feel of the show. The set - the bridge and a spiral staircase down to the stage - is a versatile space invaded by tables, tea chests, counters and Christmas, swiftly arriving and departing with the actors.
Steve Brown, who also wrote the hit musical Spend, Spend, Spend, has created a terrific score which tells the story with clarity and features some great tunes.
The four-piece orchestra is a perfect foil for the actors, never intrusive but superb in delivery.