The Pasadena Theater Company will celebrate its 30th anniversary Saturday with cake, punch and the opening night performance of “It’s A Wonderful Life,” based on the famed Frank Capra film.
For PTC president Sharon Steele who has served as actor, director, producer or some combination for all 10 performances of this classic, the play is the perfect way to kick off the holidays.
“‘It’s A Wonderful Life’ jump-starts my Christmas season, so for me, Christmas started with auditions for the play. Of course, this means I don’t get my decorations up, because I’m too busy with the show, but it’s nice because it puts me in the spirit early,” she said.
Steele, who ran her own casting company for 15 years, is committed to keeping the play in its “classic” form.
“Once we had someone who wanted to make Clarence [played by Henry Travers in the 1946 movie] a woman, but I can’t do that. People who come to this show love the movie, and they wouldn’t like it,” Steele said.
If anything, the play has become more faithful to the film over the years.
“The script was written from the movie, but you had to take out a lot, or it would be way too long for the stage. But people have scenes they want to see. We realized we didn’t have ‘Zuzu’s petals’ and people say, ‘Where’s her rose, her flower?’ ”
Mark Tyler, who when he isn’t playing George Bailey is an assistant state’s attorney in Anne Arundel, finds much in the play that resonates with him: “It addresses a coming of age issue, that life is important. The play really gets to fundamental values of self-worth. George realizes that no man is a failure who has friends, even though he’s never able to get out of the small town where he grew up.”
Steele agrees: “ ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ is so powerful, because it touches everybody. People in the audience will tear up. It brings up wartime memories. My mom would come to the show and when she’d see Harry Bailey in his uniform, she’d think of my dad in his Coast Guard uniform.”
PTC Artistic Director Chuck Dick plays the villainous Mr. Potter, a role he’s reprised “seven or eight times. It’s always fun to play the bad guy. I come out and people will jeer. I’ll make a face back at them. It’s fun. Potter’s a money grubber, a parallel to Scrooge, and everybody likes to see him get foiled in the end,” he said.
Like Steele and Tyler, Dick clearly is taken up with the spirit of “It’s A Wonderful Life.”
“It’s one of the great 50 American films of all time. I’ve read about judges who have made criminals watch it to try and change their hearts,” he said.
“When you’re dealing with something as iconic as that, it behooves us to make sure the production bears some resemblance to the movie. That doesn’t mean you want to imitate Jimmy Stewart, but if people see the play and it doesn’t bring the movie to life, you’ve missed it. You hope that people will see the show and feel a little cheery, a little better about mankind and ready to celebrate the holiday.”
IF YOU GO
It’s A Wonderful Life
» Venue: Pasadena Theater Company, Humanities Recital Hall, Anne Arundel Community College, 101 College Parkway, Arnold
» When: 8 p.m. Saturdays, 3 p.m. Sundays; Dec. 6 and 7; Dec. 13 and 14
» Tickets: $12 for adults, $10 for children 12 and younger
» Info: 410-975-0200; www.ptcshows.com
