Alan Knoll plays 41 characters, himself and 40 from the pages of "This Wonderful Life," , and all of them come across stylishly in Knoll's one-man show, which is on stage at Dramatic License Productions' space in Chesterfield Mall through Dec. 19.
Based on that turgid cinematic turkey, "It's a Wonderful Life," which exhausts each and every one of us every Christmas season, Knoll zips breezily through the 75-minute (no intermission) play, adding enough personal pieces of candied fruit to make the evening far juicier than the cake Aunt Margaret sends every year.
The play was written by Steve Murray, from a concept by Mark Setlock (that's what the program says) and based upon the movie that was written by Frances Goodrich, Albert Hackett, Frank Capra and Jo Swerling. James Stewart, Donna Reed, Lionel Barrymore, Gloria Grahame and a host of others were in the 1946 movie. Knoll does an almost-passable Sewart and creates many others with minimal voice changes, but it all works
It's easy to laugh at Knoll and the characters–and caricatures–he creates, so the Baileys (including Zuzu, the Potters, Clarence, Mr. Gower, Violet Bick and many more all come to Knoll, if not to life. It's a charming evening.
It's a Wonderful Life, produced by Dramatic License Productions at Chesterfield Mall, runs through Dec. 19
—Joe