Director says radio play captures the mood and message of It’s a Wonderful Life

“Of course when you do live theatre you can’t always get the musical or the movie magic that you would get when you watch a movie,” she said. “But we’ve definitely created the mood and the scenes and the actually the concept of the heartwarming classic story of how life truly is wonderful is you really just take a moment to look around and see what you have and be appreciative of that.”

The uplifting message is something a lot of people could use right now, Weisgerber said, going on two years into the pandemic.

The group planned to present the play last year but was forced to shut down 10 days before opening night due to the second wave of COVID-19.

She said in times like this people have to step back and take a good look at their lives.

“It will get better but we’ve just gotta just kind of look at the world and look at our lives and just say ‘you know, we have what we have and we’re lucky to have it.’”

This is the second radio play following War of the Worlds in October.

Weisgerber says audiences enjoyed the concept and watching a small group of actors creating different characters.

“It’s not as jazzed up as our typical shows but they really enjoyed the concept of it and the idea of five actors on stage, four or five actors on stage, telling a story and creating different characterizations among so little people and telling a fabulous story,” she said.

Five performers will play about 25 characters and there is a live foley artist, just like during War of the Worlds. Three of the stage roles are double-cast, with performers alternating nights.

Show nights are Nov. 26-27, Dec. 2-4 and 8-11.

Tickets, nightly casts and more information is available at mhmtheatre.com.

Medicine Hat Musical Theatre is participating in the Restrictions Exemption Program.

by Chris Brown

Director says radio play captures the mood and message of It’s a Wonderful Life

Our Community