On
this lovely Sunday, I had the opportunity to see a show at the First
Presbyterian Theater in Fort Wayne. It was the classic story of “It’s a
Wonderful Life”. You are probably familiar with the characters of George
Bailey, Uncle Billy, and the villainous Mr. Potter. This movie is watched a
thousand times every Christmas season. It is personally one of my favorite
movies.
When
My Dad told me that he had bought tickets to see this show, I was excited but I
had some concerns. The first being if the director would simply try to recreate
the popular movie instead of using some of his creative power to make a
different show. I was not sure which one I would prefer. However, I was not
prepared for the spectacle that I was about to witness.
The
theater space was small, which means that there is no bad spot in the house.
That was one of the few redeeming qualities about the production. When the
lights came up, they shone down upon the lead, George Bailey. Now, I’m not one
to judge a book by its cover, but the actor did not look as if he belonged in
the show. He was wearing a shirt that was too small for him and busting at the
seams to the snide smirk on his face.
However, I thought to myself “I’m sure I will warm up to his appearance
eventually. He’s probably a really good actor.”
The
minute he opened his mouth to speak, I realized how wrong I had been. This guy
thought he was Jimmy Stewart! He seemed to have worked for hours on getting the
voice down that he completely forgot to put any emotion into the character! The
audience never believed for a moment how desperate he had become or how dire
the situation was because of how flat the acting was. This was not just the
lead either. Every character from Mr. Gower to Uncle Billy was flat. I will
however, put an exception in for the actress who played Mary and the actor who
play Mr. Potter. They were able to make the characters their own without
relying on the movie.
I
must admit that “It’s a Wonderful Life” was a huge undertaking for the actors.
Who haven’t seen this movie? It has been watched repeatedly. People know the
lines and how they have been said. The best the actors could have done was to
stay true to the script and forget what they have seen in the movie. This is a
hard task I understand that. The thing that annoys me about the acting was how
lazy the actors got. All they needed to do was to read the script and
understand their characters. They had to bring something to the table to make
their character unique. That is the beauty about theater. No matter how many
times a character is played, it is always different.
Overall, this production wasn't so wonderful. In fact it was slightly painful.
