Now through December 31, Third Coast Review is raising money to support the diverse roster of writers you know and appreciate for their thoughtful, insightful arts and culture coverage in Chicago and beyond. Everything raised during this time will go directly to paying these writers a well-deserved year-end stipend; you can make a contribution here. Thank you!
Growing up in Oak Park, many of my memories of holiday traditions are tied to Chicago, zipping in on the Eisenhower to wander the dozens of trees on display at the Museum of Science and Industry's Christmas Around the World exhibit or snagging a table tree-side at the Walnut Room. As an adult, I've only added to those city-specific traditions. My favorite among them is It's a Wonderful Life! Live in Chicago, an annual presentation from American Blues Theater that I not only look forward to every year but evangelize to anyone who will listen this time of year.
The show, a radio play presentation of the Frank Capra classic holiday film directed by executive ertistic director Gwendolyn Whiteside, doesn't change all that much from year to year; like the Joffrey's iconic Chicago-fied The Nutcracker and Goodman's reliable and wonderful A Christmas Carol, ABT's It's a Wonderful Life! is quickly becoming a stalwart of the holiday theater scene, and part of its charm is its familiarity. From year to year, that familiarity has included constants like cast members who've brought the show to life again and again, and the festive pre-show cheer welcoming audiences to the show, holiday carols and audiograms and more all transporting us back in time to a mid-20th-century radio studio where the play is to be "broadcast live" on WABT (get it?) out to the Chicagoland masses.
This year, however, American Blues Theater gets to celebrate one shiny, new feature for the beloved show, and at the performance I attended last week, everyone was positively buzzing about the change. The company, founded in 1985, staged It's a Wonderful Life in their just-finished new theater a year ago; earlier this year, they officially opened their first permanent storefront theater home. Renovated from a former Walgreens in Lincoln Square, the building is beautifully repurposed into a gleaming lobby and bar and a 137-seat main stage theater (there is also a 50-seat black box space for additional productions). Until this year, every time I'd seen It's A Wonderful Life! (dating back to at least 2016!), it was in a different venue as the company lived a nomadic existence, putting on a show wherever they could find the space.
That's all changed now, and this year's production has a bit of extra Christmas cheer because of it. The space is modern and light-filled, but as one moves into the theater, they're transported into a cozy and festive living room of a radio studio. The stage is filled with Christmas trees and poinsettias decorating the foley booth, for foley artist J.G. Smith, at stage left, and an upright piano, for music director Michael Mahler, at stage right. Comfy couches and chairs fill the space in between for the cast, all of whom play multiple roles in the production (save Brandon Dahlquist as George Bailey). Three vintage-looking mics are at center stage, and once the show begins, the cast executes an impressive and precise choreography that sees them stepping up to each in various combinations and from various distances to help set each scene in and around Bedford Falls.
If you know the film, you know the show, which runs 90 minutes without an intermission; the film is just over two hours, which means this version does take some liberties in its abridgment, but I promise you won't miss what's not here (notably, they don't try to recreate the high school dance scene where an in-ground pool is revealed beneath the basketball court). Instead, sit back and allow yourself to be moved by the warm and deeply felt performances of Dahlquist, Audrey Billings as Mary/Mrs. Bailey (the elder), Joe Dempsey as Clarence/Mr. Potter, as well as Manny Buckley, Dara Cameron and Ian Paul Custer. They emote and engage aplenty, making the radio show conceit much more engaging than it has any right to be.
From the moment you step in the door, It's a Wonderful Life! Live in Chicago may be a bit much for the holiday-cynical among us. Indeed, it is a steroid shot of holiday cheer, and one viewing early in the season will give you enough to last until all the presents are unwrapped and the decorations come down. With so much on offer for those making holiday memories around town, anyone who tries to do it all will quickly develop a serious case of yuletide exhaustion. Nevertheless, It's a Wonderful Life! remains a must-see annual tradition in its much-deserved and beautifully appointed long-standing home, presented by (what at least appears to be) a thriving local theater organization, and that's more than enough to make any grinch's heart grow three sizes any day.
It's a Wonderful Life! Live in Chicago runs through December 22 (a hard close date, so don't delay!) at American Blues Theater, 5627 N. Lincoln Ave. Tickets and more information are available online.