By CHARLES WHALEY
“It’s a musical that looks back but reflects everything we’re feeling today,” Derby Dinner Playhouse producer Bekki Jo Schneider noted at Thursday’s press opening by way of introducing “A Wonderful Life,” the heartwarming song-and-dance adaptation of Frank Capra’s classic film set in 1945.
The movie starred James Stewart as George Bailey, an upstanding young man who put aside dreams of college and becoming an architect to save his father’s building and loan business threatened by a greedy, unfeeling banker during hard times.
Tyler Bliss’s multilayered performance in the demanding role (his singing is first-rate, too) is the main reason for seeing this version created by “Fiddler on the Roof” lyricist Sheldon Harnick (book and lyrics) and “Sesame Street” composer Joe Raposo (“Sing” and “It’s Not Easy Being Green”), who wrote the music.
The score, alas, is merely serviceable, though the oft-repeated title song by George, loyal wife Mary (Annette McCullouch), and others is catchy.
And “Wings” is amusingly sung by scene-stealing Cary Wiger as George’s bumbling guardian angel who steers him away from suicide by showing him how his family and people in town would have suffered if he had never been born.
There’s also a lively generic Charleston number shoehorned in as a high school dance competition (choreography by Barbara F. Cullen) led by George’s pal Sam Wainwright (John T. Lynes), who had a thing for Mary before she married George.
John Payonk as dastardly banker Henry Potter (Lionel Barrymore in the film) gets attention as the kind of villain you want to hiss.
Director Lee Buckholz keeps his large ensemble briskly moving while drawing strong performances from secondary characters that include George’s absent-minded Uncle Billy (Kevin Crain), his war hero brother Harry (Matthew Brennan), taxi driver Ernie (Dustin Rayburn), and Mary’s mother (Melissa Combs).
“A Wonderful Life’s runs through Dec. 31. For tickets call 812-288-8281 or toll free 877-898-8577.
