Entirely sold out through December 23rd ( call the box office at (517) 672-6009, Tuesday through Saturday from noon to 2pm to be placed on a cancellation list), The Dio has created another tremendous production for the holidays – “It’s A Wonderful Life – A Live Radio Play – which sparkles with holiday cheer and talent. It’s a misnomer to call it a Live Radio Play — it’s actually a fully staged 5-person production of the story under the guise of presenting it as a radio play – which conjures images of music stands and scripts. Nope, not here – each of the studio “characters” plays multiple parts, and it is all memorized and fully staged on Matthew Tomich’s beautiful radio studio set.
Steve DeBruyne directs with creativity here – things move quickly with so many parts – it probably helps that he mastered much of this with Guttenberg! a few seasons ago. “On The Air” and “Applause” signs occasionally blink to remind the audience what to do. A Foley desk sits center stage for sound effects. If you have never seen the movie on which it is based (shame on you), you won’t have any problem following the story – and if you have seen it yearly for say 50 years, you will be delighted by the many Easter Eggs herein. I won’t spoil it for the lucky folks who have tickets. But you will be delighted.
Each of the actors plays multiple roles, including their “radio studio” character – Hayden Reboulet is outstanding as George Bailey – his enthusiasm is infectious – as is the energy of each of the performers. Monica Spencer is a terrific Mary. and matches Hayden beautifully in their many scenes together. Nolan David plays multiple characters including radio host; known for his voice work, his performance is hilarious and characters are instantly recognizable. Switching back and forth causes often hilarious results (watch the cigar, the pipe, the hat, the open coat, the closed coat) – Bravo. Amy Schumacher is as funny here as she was spooky in Doubt earlier in the year and is a local theater treasure. Dylan Benson has been making the rounds of the local theaters and is a pleasure to have back at The Dio – he gets to play many of the secondary characters as well as Clarence, who (spoiler for the two people reading this who have never seen the movie) does indeed get his wings.
Steve DeBruyne (director), Eileen Obradovich (props), Norma Polk (costumes), and Matt Tomich (Set, Lighting, Sound) continue to make one of SE Michigan’s most formidable production teams and their efforts show here in this true classic.
Very Highest Recommendation.
Mostly Musical Theatre 
You must be logged in to post a comment.