IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE: A LIVE RADIO PLAY (BCP): A wonderful holiday show

Wayne Wilcox and Kevin Pariseau in IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE: A LIVE RADIO PLAY. Photo by Mandee Kuenzle.
Wayne Wilcox and Kevin Pariseau in IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE: A LIVE RADIO PLAY.
Photo by Mandee Kuenzle.

Well, the weather outside is frightful—for those trying to get into the holiday spirit. But there is a remedy: IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE: A LIVE RADIO PLAY. Nestled in beautiful New Hope, the Bucks County Playhouse tackles this classic (adapted by Joe Landry) and yet again finds itself with another hit. The show is tremendous, the actors are amazing, the music is great—the audience was more than satisfied.

Jake Laurents (Wayne Alan Wilcox), Sallly Applewhite (Whitney Bashor), Harry “Jazzbo” Heywood (Brandon J. Ellis), Butch Popkin (Garth Kravitz), Lana Sherwood (Maggie Lakis), and Freddie Filmore (Kevin Pariseau) work at WBUX Doylestown. They present the live radio play of It’s a Wonderful Life complete with sound effects and commercials, and we watch the personalities present the show on air. Jake (Wilcox) is the perfect George Bailey and impressively captures his mannerisms and inflections. Sally (Bashor) is stunning as Mary. The other actors are masterly in their ability to play multiple roles sometimes one after the other in quick succession.

Directed by Hunter Foster with musical staging by Jennifer Cody, this show is truly magic. The set is amazing, the music is spot-on, the performance is flawless—IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE: A LIVE RADIO PLAY is the perfect to ring in the holidays.

[Bucks County Playhouse, 70 S. Main Street, New Hope, PA]. December 13–30, 2015; bcptheater.org.

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