By George F. Lee, Star-Bulletin
Randy Hubbard plays George Bailey and
Kathleen Stuart as Mary Hatch.
DHT takes a grim look
By John Berger
at Christmas
Special to the Star-BulletinA Wonderful Life: At 8 p.m. Thursday to Saturday and 4 p.m. Sunday through Dec. 21, Diamond Head Theatre. Tickets $10-$40. Call 734-0274.
A kindly man who has drifted through life putting the welfare and wishes of others ahead of his own finds himself framed for bank fraud and decides to commit suicide on Christmas Eve. Can an angel named Clarence win promotion to Angel 1st Class by convincing suicidal George Bailey that those sacrifices have made the world a better place than it would have been otherwise?
Toss in an "only in the movies" resolution to George's legal problems and you have "A Wonderful Life," a musical adaptation of the classic Jimmy Stewart movie that drops the "it's" from the film's title.
Diamond Head Theatre's new Christmas season production is a radical departure in every respect from the perennially popular "Scrooge." Continuing "Scrooge" without Frank DeLima in the title role would have been a gamble. Judging from the small audience Saturday, DHT is still facing long odds.
The mood is surprisingly grim. The songs aren't the type people go home humming. The whole thing might be stronger theater if it hadn't been reworked into a musical.
By George F. Lee, Star-Bulletin
Angel-in-training Clarence (Bruce Hale) dances
with an angel on roller skates (Lauren Filius)..
At least the playwrights didn't move the story out of its original 1945 milieu. Neither does DHT. No jarring rap songs or formula street dance numbers spoil the continuity of the story. A Charleston contest is a bright burst of colorful action early in Act I.Angels Clarence (Bruce Hale) and Joseph (Wil T.K. Kahale) review pivotal moments George's life. George (Randy Hubbard) and his alcoholic Uncle Billy (David Starr) struggle to maintain the family business - a financial institution that apparently sells homes to people who can't get conventional financing. Their nemesis is malevolent banker and slum lord Henry Potter (Dan Furst).
Hubbard - outstanding last season in DHT's production of "Crazy For You" - suffers nobly as the highly principled protagonist. A chilling song titled "Precious Light" again proves him multi-talented.
Hubbard pairs up convincingly with high school student Kathleen Stuart (Mary Hatch Bailey). It's another stellar performance for Stuart; as in Manoa Valley Theatre's recent "Forbidden Broadway Strikes Back" she plays "adult" better than most teens portray teens and is years above high school theater programs. The songs in this show aren't generally "South Pacific" or "Bye Bye Birdie" caliber but she makes several of them memorable interludes.
Furst quickly becomes the man you love to hate as the pragmatic voice of hardball
American capitalism; his two key scenes with Hubbard in Act II are brutal. Kevin W. Yamada (Sam Wainwright) adds a good voice and appropriately brash attitude as George's financially astute friend.
Hale drives most of the lighter moments. Loud applause greeted his final appearance as audience saw that Clarence had indeed won his promotion.
