![\"cygnet\"](\"https:\/\/sduptownnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/12\/cygnet.jpg\" "\\"cygnet\\"")
<\/a> For the fourth year, Cygnet Theatre Company mounts what\u2019s becoming a Cygnet holiday tradition, Joe Landry\u2019s adaptation of \u201cIt\u2019s a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play.\u201d The play is presented for the first time upon Cygnet\u2019s Old Town Stage.<\/p>\nLandry\u2019s stage work is adapted from the 1946 Frank Capra film, which starred Jimmy Stewart. The film was in turn loosely based on Philip Van Doren Stern\u2019s short story, \u201cThe Greatest Gift.\u201d The questions posed by all three incarnations are what personal gifts compose a wonderful life, what is that life’s true meaning, and what sacrifices may be required?<\/p>\n
It\u2019s Christmas Eve 1947 in the broadcast studio of WCYG in Manhattan. The radio players prepare to recreate the film for listeners. The film takes place in the tiny town of Bedford Falls, where the protagonist, George Bailey (played for the fourth successive year by Tom Andrew), believes he is a failure. He\u2019s fought the good fight and sacrificed all his personal dreams and hopes to save the family business and bring it through the Great Depression. Uncle Billy loses the bank deposit needed to keep the business afloat, and nasty Mr. Potter, who\u2019s been hoping to ruin George, is waiting to triumph at last.<\/p>\n
George realizes that due to his insurance policy he\u2019s worth more dead than alive. Stressed after speaking harshly to his wife and children, George, ashamed, takes off, bent upon suicide. His goodness and his impending suicide attract attention in heaven, and the powers that be send an angel second-class named Clarence (Tim West) to intervene. If successful, Clarence will win his wings after a 200-year wait.<\/p>\n
In addition to Andrew and West, additional actors from Cygnet\u2019s beloved company repeat their roles as follows: Amy Dalton is music director and accompanist; Jonathan Dunn-Rankin portrays the dastardly Mr. Potter; Melissa Fernandes, the troubled Violet Bick; David McBean, George\u2019s brother Harry; Veronica Murphy, as George\u2019s Mother; and Scott Paulson, indispensable Foley operator. All play additional roles including children, townspeople, police, bartenders and taxicab drivers.<\/p>\n
Amanda Sitton, surely one of San Diego\u2019s finest actors, makes a \u201cWonderful\u201d debut as Mary, George\u2019s wife. A graduate of UCSD with a BA in Theatre, Sitton is remembered most recently as the wife in Cygnet\u2019s \u201cMan From Nebraska.\u201d She received the San Diego Theatre Critics Circle Award for her performance in New Village Arts Theatre\u2019s production of \u201cGolden Boy.\u201d<\/p>\n
If \u201cIt\u2019s a Wonderful Life\u201d becomes a holiday tradition, and there\u2019s no doubt that it will, there will be other such changes and additions down the road (for instance, Fernandes is a blond this year), minute modifications to costumes and continuing directorial nuances from Sean Murray, Cygnet artistic director.<\/p>\n
The big change this year is the venue itself, which works marvelously well to enhance enjoyment of the two-hour production. The overriding fact, however, is the indestructibility of the work itself. Despite its familiarity and the familiarity of the performers, the sentiment and meaning once again overtake the viewer and engender holiday spirit and good will, at least for another year.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a Wonderful Life\u201d continues at 7:30 p.m. Tuesdays through Thursdays; 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays; 2 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays; and 7 p.m. Sundays at Cygnet\u2019s Old Town Stage, 4040 Twiggs St., Old Town, San Diego, $17-$46 (one free child\u2019s ticket with every adult purchase; discounts for seniors, students and military), www.cygnettheatre.com or (619) 337-1525.<\/p>\n
Charlene Baldridge is a member of the San Diego Critics Circle with more than 30 years experience writing about the arts.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Cygnet mounts fourth \u201cWonderful Life,\u201d first in new home By Charlene Baldridge For the fourth year, Cygnet Theatre Company mounts what\u2019s becoming a Cygnet holiday tradition, Joe Landry\u2019s adaptation of \u201cIt\u2019s a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play.\u201d The play is presented for the first time upon Cygnet\u2019s Old Town Stage. Landry\u2019s stage work is […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":243092,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11555","_seopress_titles_title":"Cygnet's \"Wonderful Life\"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11549,11551,11555],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-243091","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-entertainment","category-news","category-uptown-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243091","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=243091"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243091\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/243092"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=243091"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=243091"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=243091"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}