George Beres - An Independent View: At the Wildish Theater

Creative sounds evoke Christmases past in Springfield

By George Beres
For the Beacon

Half-a-century whizzed by in an instant when the curtain rose on “Playhouse of the Air” at Springfield’s shiny new Wildish Theatre in early December. Actually, there was no curtain for the Lord Leebrick production. Only a group of actors standing behind radio microphones, and in front of a table stocked with tools used by a creative pair of sound effects men. The visual starkness in no way detracted from a marvelous sound replay of “It’s a Wonderful Life.”

The time warp for me came from memories this novel production evoked of when I long ago sat in studio audiences for 1940s radio broadcasts in Chicago. That was before the TV picture replaced imagery that sound alone stirred in the mind of a listener. An example was “The Chicago Theatre of the Air,” which used to originate musical drama from the studios of that city’s super station, WGN.

At one corner of the WGN stage were microphones used by actors to speak operetta dialogue. At the other, microphones were used by vocalists who sang in place of the actors. As in the Springfield production, there were no costumes nor sets, so the audience still had to turn to imagination used when one listened at home over a radio speaker.

Voice versatility enabled the Springfield production of the Frank Capra movie classic to need only six actors on stage to play a dozen different personalities, as well as the effects of crowd noise. Best example was that of Bary Shaw. With one set of vocal inflections, he was the announcer who spoke to the vast radio audience, and also to those sitting raptly in the Wildish Theatre. With another, he portrayed the villain of the piece, the selfish and wealthy Mr. Potter.

Lead role of the self-sacrificing George Bailey was played by Jeff Pierce, who was happily positive under all conditions until he and his town, Bedford Falls, whose finances he managed, faced bankruptcy. That led him to the edge of suicide, resulting in the fairy tale involvement of the angel, Clarence, to save him from death and enable townsfolk to come to his rescue, putting Potter in his place, and saving the day.

In the only nod given costuming, the two sound effects men wore bright red suspenders to go with the seasonal setting of the production, Christmas. Bells, whistles, doors opening and shutting, feet crunching in snow (breakfast cereal) were among tools used by Dale Jestice and Bob Welch to create a sound environment that was real. Welch, in a cameo appearance, probably has the name best known to the audience at the Wildish because of his regular column for the Register-Guard of Eugene.

The live audience was captivated by a performance whose sound effects never allowed it to drag despite the static appearance of the actors. A smack to the jaw of Bailey lost none of its impact even for those of us who saw the sound was produced by Jestice striking his palm with his fist. One exception to the static stances of the actors was a scene in which the soundmen played a boogie woogie record of the ‘40s, and Bailey and his wife jitterbugged in a corner.

Another musical moment came when actors joined in a singing commercial for the show’s sponsor, a hair tonic. The original words were sung to the tune of “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,” a song not yet written when “It’s a Wonderful Life” first was staged. But the setting was Christmastime, so it fit— as did everything else in a marvelous evocation of a bygone time.