Review: 'This Wonderful Life' at Williamston Theatre

When it comes to holiday classics, the recipe for success tends to contain dollops of laughter and a sprinkling of joyful tears. Williamston’s “This Wonderful Life” by Steve Murray has just the right mix to make their production a welcome return to their theater.

This marks the third time John Lepard, under the direction of Tony Caselli, has brought this show to the small-town Equity house. It’s a play that makes a lot of sense for them to do at this time—the first show they’re putting on since the shutdown 18 months ago.

With it being a one-person show, social distancing is easy. Since Lepard is one of the co-founders, they didn’t have to bring someone in who would be stuck if the show had to be cancelled as so many reopenings have had to be over the past year and a half. The technical crew is small and few people are needed to run the show.

But pandemic considerations aside, it is a show that is tried and true—one that their audiences have loved and with good reason. Who has not had a moment where they asked whether it would have been better if they’d never been born? It’s one of the reasons this show resonates so much with audiences.

And “This Wonderful Life,” the one-person version of “It’s a Wonderful Life” has a certain charm to it that even the original lacks.

The original, for those not a fan of old-time television, is the story of George Bailey of Bedford Falls. Through a series of misfortunate and a horrible Christmas Eve, he finds himself on a bridge about to jump off and kill himself. Instead, he rescues a wingless angel, Clarence, who shows him what the world would look like if he had never been born.

Lepard saunters out after the curtain speech and immediately connects with the audience, talking to them about the day and introducing the show he is about to do. In this moment, he isn’t a character, he is himself—but that is about to change and over the next 70 minutes he will become every character in Bedford Falls and beyond.

Interwoven among the recreation of the story are healthy doses of meta-humor that bring the show into 2021. The characters are from the 1940s, but the interpretation and commentary is thoroughly modern. It even pokes gentle fun at some of the more unrealistic aspects of the play (not the angel, but a bank auditor working on Christmas Eve, for example).

Lepard couldn’t be more perfect for this storytelling role. He brings joy to the narration. He convinces the audience that he is delighted to share the tale and does it as if he is doing it for the first time (even though he could probably do it in his sleep by now).  It’s not just that he is capable of making different characters look or sound differently, it’s that he connects so well with the audience. He really wants them to know these people—their sorrows, their struggles, their hopes, their triumphs.

And because Lepard is so authentic and so relatable, he can elicit genuine laughter and teary eyes. His exquisite pauses as George slowly loses out on each dream let them hit hard and build toward the crucial ending scene.

While he is the only one the audience sees, it is clear that Lepard is not alone on stage. Bartley Bauer’s set appears simple, but it is not—something that is almost his trademark. The backwall provides a space for the heavenly confabs and the occasional neon sign. The stairs are half domestic and half blank canvas for a myriad of locations.

It’s a set that accommodates Caselli’s blocking and Lepard’s energy, giving them spaces to work with that invite the involvement and imagination of the audience.

Dustin Miller has the perfect touch with the lighting. It’s subtle so that it never steals the storytelling focus from Lepard but it adds enough flair to support his work. Quintessa Gaillinat provides the well-timed voices of the heavenly host along with sound effects ranging from bells to door slams.

This is an easier show than most for props wizard Michelle Raymond, as the show treats most props the way “Our Town” does—pantomimed and left to the audience to fill in. But what she is called upon to do, she does with her usual flair.

It is a team that works smoothly together with an evident commitment to Caselli’s vision.

“This Wonderful Life” is a lovely reopening for Williamston Theatre, a play beckoning us to remember why we matter to each other, how each life touches others in ways that may never be known but are true nonetheless.