BWW Reviews: Studio Tenn's IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE

Finding it difficult to get into the holiday spirit? Studio Tenn has the perfect antidote to the grey, cloudy and wet days of early December in Nashville: It's A Wonderful Life-the company's production of the stage adaptation of the iconic holiday film. If it doesn't put you in the right frame of mind, then we suspect nothing will. For there aren't enough tinsel and glitter, carols and homilies, mince pies or shining treetop stars in the world that will grab your heart and imagination as gently and as lovingly as It's A Wonderful Life, which is given the sumptuous and elegant mounting that audiences have come to expect from every Studio Tenn project.

Under the direction of Matt Logan (again, it's his rich imagination that informs the production's visual presentation, aided and abetted by Mitch White and Stephen Moss), whose attention to detail is virtually unparalleled among local theater artists and whose innate knowledge about what works best and what most captivates an audience is second nature, It's A Wonderful Life stars a veritable who's who of Nashville theatrical luminaries, each cast with unerring confidence to bring the story to life.

Certainly as sentimental as one would expect, Logan's production is never maudlin, and onstage It's A Wonderful Life packs as much of an emotional wallop as the classic film that continues to delight television audiences. In fact, the stage adaptation is perhaps even more compelling than the film (Frank Capra, Jimmy Stewart and Donna Reed notwithstanding). There is an immediacy and energy to live theater that makes the story of prototypically and charmingly earnest movie hero George Bailey all the more appealing in this day and age.

The story, by now, is common knowledge, of course: a well-meaning "angel, second class" named Clarence Odbody (played with wonderfully good-natured bemusement by Matthew Carlton, in another role that seems written just for him) is assigned the task of saving George Bailey from almost certain tragedy. As Clarence learns about the life of the ambitious and lively George, we are taken along for the fanciful, colorful ride that is filled with fantasy and hope, longing and desire that is part of every life, but which somehow makes the life of George Bailey truly challenging and significant.

Bedford Falls is lovingly depicted in Logan and White's gorgeous set, which may, initially, remind you of a circa 1980s fern bar with its collection of signs and decorative gewgaws (though I could be having flashbacks of waiting tables at Bennigan's during its heyday). Logan and White ably transport their audience to the fully realized world of Bedford Falls in the first half of the 20th century, with stylistic nods to and flourishes of all the places and things that continue to live in our memories after years of watching the film every holiday season.

Illuminated by Stephen Moss' superb lighting design, the set gives cast members the perfect backdrop for their beautifully timed, even cinematic, delivery of the script. Breathing new life and fresh intensity into the characters, every actor seems perfectly suited to their assigned personages, each one capturing that sense of familiarity that comes with a beloved character, yet imbuing each with something new and exciting. In short, every actor stakes his or her own claim on the people they are playing. Again, much of the credit can go to Logan and executive producer Jake Speck for their casting choices and to Logan whose impeccably designed costumes (Mary's ensembles-so flattering with their princess lines and fashionable fabrics-are particularly eye-popping) help the actors enrobe themselves with their characters as easily as slipping on a shoe or fastening a garter.

Brent Maddox and Shannon Hoppe are, quite possibly, even more engaging than their film counterparts as George and Mary, which allows them to envelop you in their sweetly evolving romance, without smothering you with treacly and manipulative stage technique. They are the quintessence of stage perfection, helping to transform a theater into a whole other world, transcending the stagebound conventions of a script. Audiences are prone to fall a little bit in love with Maddox and Hoppe/George and Mary as their tale unfolds, and to be caught up in the melodramatic tale of their selfless lives in which they are surrounded by all manner of delightful denizens of Bedford Falls, the somewhat idyllic little burg in which the play's action develops.

Maddox, Hoppe and Carlton are joined onstage by a stellar cast of Nashville actors who were obviously meant to spend the Christmas season together in a joint effort to delight audiences and to make each and every one of us feel their sense of camaraderie and bon homie that enlivens every scene. Seriously, could there possibly be a more noteworthy gathering of actors? Warm and sincere kudos to Garris Wimmer, Ayla Williams, Charlie Webb, Matthew Rosenbaum, Corey Caldwell, Nat McIntyre, Erin Parker, Micah Williams, Erica Lee Haines, Bella Higginbotham and Mary Marguerite Hall.

Among the supporting cast, special notice must be paid to Denice Hicks and Derek Whittaker, both sublime as Aunt Tilly and Uncle Billy; to the strikingly beautiful Ellie Sikes (who plays Violet Peterson with an artful blend of allure and compassion); to Chip Arnold, who plays the miserly Mr. Potter with the same gleeful villainy as he did Ebenezer Scooge in previous Studio Tenn holiday season productions; and the genuinely lovely turn of Nan Gurley, as the quietly supportive Mother Bailey.

Clearly, the cast of It's A Wonderful Life gives their audiences a much-anticipated, if somewhat unexpected by most, master class of acting found far too rarely on local stages.

Based upon a story by Philip Van Doren Stern-with a screenplay by Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett, Jo Swerling and Frank Capra-the tale of It's A Wonderful Life effectively skirts mawkishness and potentially saccharine plot devices and instead presents a completely realistic story of the importance of one man's life in the lives of all those around him.

Is there anything more appropriate at this time of year, during which we all should be acutely aware of our impact on the lives of our friends and loved ones and those we meet on a day-to-day basis? Although it's from a 1946 film that was nominated for five Academy Awards, a time in which the post-World War II world searched for stability and happiness, It's A Wonderful Life isn't at all old-fashioned. Rather, there's a certain contemporary sense of humor that simmers beneath the surface, helping it to achieve its sense of universality with a timeless glint to the Christmas ornaments on George and Mary's tree.

• It's A Wonderful Life. From the film by Frank Capra and the story by Phillip Van Doren Stern. Adapted for the stage by James W. Rodgers. Directed by Matt Logan. Presented by Studio Tenn at Jamison Hall at The Factory in Franklin. Through December 21.

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