By ALAN SMASON
There are a lot of people capable of taking a beloved film soundtrack and adapting it faithfully into a theatre piece for presentation on the stage. There are also a lot of people capable of directing such a work and bringing out the actors’ very best performances that are faithful to that script.
But in New Orleans there is only one person who can do both at the same time and turn the production into a treasured memory that is certain to become a holiday classic. That person is Ricky Graham, the local king of comedy, who previously gave us holiday joy in Scrooge in Rouge (a British music hall comedy based on “A Christmas Carol”).
Graham wrote the adaptation from the Frank Capra film “It’s a Wonderful Life” that famously starred Jimmy Stewart, Donna Reed, Lionel Barrymore and Thomas Mitchell. While the characters of George Bailey, Mary Bailey, Mr. Potter and Uncle Billy are faithful to their screen portrayals, much of the background and other aspects of the story have been reset in the New Orleans of the past.
It’s a New Orleans that includes Maison Blanche and D. H. Holmes department stores and hearkens back to a day when celebrating the holidays was all about being downtown on Canal Street.
The one good thing about a Ricky Graham show is that quite often it stars its creator and in It’s a Wonderful Life, Y’All, he does not disappoint, appearing as himself to make commentary at the very beginning of the show and to offer the very last word.
The entire first act and a bit of the second act is a set up of the premise of how we all have impact on each other in life. David Hoover plays Clarence, the angel who has not earned his wings, but whose intervention will hopefully give insight into his charge, George Bailey.
Playing George is Rivertown co-artistic director Gary Rucker, the beleaguered everyman who wants to put distance between his New Orleans hometown and other points of the compass. As fate would have it, George is forced to stay due to a variety of factors to take care of his family’s building and loan, the only competition to the bank and old man Mr. Potter, played very convincingly by Vatican Lokey.
Jimmy Stewart was 37 and Donna Reed was only 24 at the time of the filming of “It’s a Wonderful Life.” As good as Stewart was as an actor, he really had to pull out all the stops in playing George Bailey as a high schooler. Capra used younger actors to portray George, his younger brother Harry, and love interests Mary and her competition Violet in several key scenes.
We are asked to use our imaginations when it comes to seeing a play, but both Rucker and his co-star Amy Alvarez are clearly a bit older than Stewart and Reed were when depicted in the movie. Yet, to their credit, they both handle their roles well.
Alvarez, like everyone else in the cast except Rucker and Hoover, covers several different roles. She plays George’s mother and another minor character in a scene opposite Christina Cross, who is assigned the task of playing all of the other female roles in the play.
But the competition for playing the most roles is keenly waged between Lokey, who plays more than a dozen other figures, and Ryan Nocito, who plays nearly that many as well. In fact, there is one scene where Nocito’s quick change takes longer than expected and his character mutters back for the audience’s understanding. It’s one of many very clever parts of Graham’s script that endears the audience to the story.
It’s truly amazing that he distilled all of the characters in the film into just six cast members. That includes Burt the cop, Ernie the cab driver, Nick the bartender and Mr. Gower the druggist and that’s only some of what keep Nocito and Lokey busy during the show. The main role Nocito tackles is as an archangel informing Clarence as to his mission and he largely serves as a narrator for the work.
Lokey is exceptional in his main role as the miserly and miserable Mr. Potter. While it is easy to be appalled by Potter’s greed and his generally disagreeable temperament, the focus of this story is squarely on Clarence and George. Clarence is redeemed only if he can help George. George has to stop thinking about himself and learn for that his effect on others has truly mattered and that everything that has radiated out from his good deeds has enriched others and esteemed himself in their eyes.
All of the actors do credit to the spirit of the play and the essence of what has endeared movie lovers to the Frank Capra film. The universality of the struggle for us to do right in the world, even if it means making sacrifices for what we want is at its heart. What makes It’s a Wonderful Life, Y’All work so well is its message that suggests we are all important in ways we can never truly understand.
The creative team includes Edward Cox as a scenic artist, who does wonderful work. Indeed, the scenic design is quite inventive with very high portholes on either side representing heaven where the angels are able to converse as they observe George’s past as well as the earnest prayers of his present loved ones who are calling for divine intervention on his behalf.
Co-artistic director Marc Fouchi’s sound designs are also well-executed. Kate Jensen renders memorable costume designs and Camille Griffin does outstanding work as the show’s lighting designer.
Graham’s hand in directing the talented cast is apparent. The sellout crowds well in advance of the opening of the show would also suggest that there is a great deal of trust for his original works and his deft directing.
It’s a Wonderful Life, Y’All is just the latest inspirational work rendered by Ricky Graham, who has been a mainstay of the New Orleans theatre scene for more than half a century. Through the years we have seen him weather hurricanes (I’m Still Here, Me), lovingly recall his past growing up in yesteryear New Orleans (When Ya Smiling) and turn the restaurant game on its head (The Black and White Blues also known as Waiting Around).
In addition to Scrooge in Rouge, Graham’s other holiday classic revolves around Mardi Gras, not Christmas, and has been on the boards for more than 30 years. And the Ball and All… is the hilarious sendup of a small, but determined ladies Mardi Gras club, the fictional Krewe of Terpsichore. Produced every year at Rivertown, it manages to sell out briskly.
With its local theme on an already beloved classic, It’s a Wonderful Life, Y’All should be with us and Ricky Graham dedicated fans for many years to come.
It’s a Wonderful Life, Y’All finishes its run at Rivertown Theaters for the Performing Arts on Sun., Dec. 22. Shows are sold out with some overflow seating available only for Saturday afternoon’s performances. For more information click here.
