That Which You Take With You

Is only what you put into it.  I don’t know if it is the play, the cast, the character, the direction, but it is probably the whole lot combined into one that makes a production completely worthwhile.  It’s A Wonderful Life is so brilliant because it tells the tale of an everyman who is shown that one person can indeed make a difference to those people around him.  I humbly submit that everyone involved in this production set out to and accomplished this in extraordinary fashion,  Through all the hard work, goofiness, talent, and everything, each member of the cast, crew, direction team put their hearts into it and hopefully it came through in the splendid audiences we had each performance.  If I made even one audience member hate my take on the “Evil” Henry F. Potter then I did exactly what I set out to do.  As Mother Bailey so frequently intoned “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch!”

I don’t care what show it is, how many lines I have, or how long I am on stage, I ALWAYS find it so Darn hard to break away.  Two weeks were definitely not long enough for this show.  I loved all the carts, pictures (Jeff’s portrait Chance of a Lifetime truly captured the image of Stewart and Reed).  Even the card addressed to “The Evil One” from my Traitorous Secretary was beautiful.

Now… a few tidbits from the history of the movie, itself:

• Lionel Barrymore (Mr. Potter) convinced Jimmy Stewart to accept the role of George Bailey, despite Stewart’s feeling that he was not up to it so soon after WWII)
• Mary was Donna Reed’s first starring role.
• Lionel Barrymore also played Rasputin (hmm… something to shhot for?)
• Instead of “Auld Lang Syne” the original ending was supposed to be “Ode to Joy”
• The film was voted “Most Inspirational Film of All Time” and “Most Powerful Film of All Time” by the American Film Institute.

So there we have it… the end of a Wonderful Show with a Wonderful Cast, Wonderful Crew, Wonderful Direction and Producing, and most importantly… WONDERFUL AUDIENCE! THANK YOU ALL FOR MAKING THIS TRIP TO POTTERSVILLE SO MEMORABLE!

I almost forgot about the donuts in the wheelchair.  If you missed them they were something which “George” will take with him.