Matt McCarthy and Anna Marie Sell appear as George and Mary Bailey in the Theater Project’s radio play “It’s a Wonderful Life.” Screenshot provided by Transcend Streaming.
For the last 20 years, many of The Theater Project’s favorite actors have played – and replayed –roles in the radio play It’s a Wonderful Life, and the tradition has continued online.
Starting the holidays with the New Jersey Theater Project’s rendering of this American Christmas Carol has become a tradition for many families and theater patrons.
This year, audiences can enjoy the show when it is broadcast Friday and Saturday, Dec. 10 and 11, at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, Dec. 12, at 2 p.m. The Friday night audience can meet the cast at a live virtual talk after the performance.
Set in the Lux Soap Radio Theater of 1947, this Wonderful Life tells the story the way radio audiences might have experienced it in the year the film was released and promoted on the internet of its day – radio.
Each year, the company strives to add something new and, this year, viewers will enjoy the visual effects made possible by The Theater Project’s online designers, Transcend Streaming.
Why do audiences return to this story in so many forms and formats, year after year?
“There’s a moment in the play where George Bailey turns to a Depression-panicked crowd and says, ‘We can get through this thing all right. We’ve got to stick together, though,’” says Artistic Director Mark Spina. “And that’s definitely a message for our time.”
For tickets and more information, visit www.thetheaterproject.org or call 908-809-8865.
Matt McCarthy and Anna Marie Sell as George and Mary Bailey Screenshotprovided by TRANSCEND STREAMING