Tag: Ed Heinzelman

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Milwaukee Rep’s It’s A Wonderful Life “Radio Play” Play

Since its release in 1946, Frank Capra’s movie It’s A Wonderful Life has worked its way into the heart of the American holiday traditions around Christmas. So I imagine nearly everyone present at the Rep’s opening of It’s A Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play in the Stackner Cabaret is familiar with the story and the palpable excitement in the room is the anticipation on how is the Rep going to present all of the drama, pathos, and visual excitement of the original film on the small stage. For those of you not familiar with the story, never fear, all will be revealed!

Left to Right: David Flores, Daniel Arana, Eva Nimmer, Melinda Parrett, and Wade Elkins. Photo by Mark Frohna and courtesy of the Milwaukee Repertory Theater.

So where should we start…well…let’s start with what we see first, Caroline Dischell’s incredible set. Completely evocative of Radio City Music Hall or the Rockefeller Center of the 1930s and 1940s, Dischell has mined the best of the Art Deco styles from the period with gilt geometric filigrees, seemingly textured and patterned wallpapers, horizontal motifs and lighting fixtures, and of course the classic ON AIR and Applause prompts sign! Welcome to the radio drama studio of WMKE (side note: was there ever a WMKE in Milwaukee? It seems like a natural but I don’t remember one).

And then director Jonathan Hetler starts the play as the house lights flash and the overhead announcer calls the cast to the stage and says that we are 10 minutes to air. And the cast members individually hurry from the back of the house to their places on the stage, waving to friends, making brief comments as they pass by, and greeting each other as old friends do. And at that moment we all magically transform from being members of the Stackner audience into the excited radio studio audience at WMKE.

Left to Right: Eva Nimmer, Wade Elkins, David Flores, Melinda Parrett, and Daniel Arana. Photo by Mark Frohna and courtesy of the Milwaukee Repertory Theater.

One last thing before we get to the drama itself. Bobby Sharon’s costumes, just wow. The cut, the colors, the styles, are just so indicative of the period in my mind. And the hats that characters Sally Applewhite and Lana Sherwood are wearing on entry are to die for.

Places, places, and we count down three, two, one, On Air and David Flores as Freddie Filmore in his role as MC gives us the introductions and we are off and running. This gets complicated very fast because our five intrepid Rep actors play the actors at WMKE who play multiple characters in It’s A Wonderful Life. So if I misidentify a role, my apologies. Flores is a jewel as Filmore, switching from the MC role to Mr. Potter to a number other roles all at the drop of a hat. He is the most engaging actor on stage. Eva Nimmer is Sally Applewhite, and Applewhite’s main role is Mary Bailey, our protagonist’s love interest and eventual wife…but she plays a number of other roles as well. Nimmer very effectively describes the confident and secure and undaunted Mary when she is courting George and then starting the actions that save his day and then playing that same role but the Mary who never knew George Bailey and was depressed, withdrawn, and a bit fearful in her life.

Wade Elkins plays Harry Haywood who gets to play a number of prominent roles including , George’s brother, Harry Bailey. But most importantly Haywood is Clarence, the a bit confused, yet empathic, and well meaning guardian angel sent to help George through his personal trials and failings. Spot on Mr. Elkins! Melinda Parrett is Lana Sherwood…again playing multiple roles…a delightfully saucy Violet in the main story and then moving to a desolate woman in the life without George section. And then she gets to transition to Clarence’s mentor and fills in George’s backstory for Clarence and the studio audience so we understand the measure of the angel and the man, George Bailey. Although a number of actors double as Bailey children, Parrett efforts are really really cute and giggle provoking.

Left to Right: David Flores (rear), Eva Nimmer and Daniel Arana (foreground). Photo by Mark Frohna and courtesy of the Milwaukee Repertory Theater.

Jake Laurents is George Bailey and Jake Laurents is played by Daniel Arana. It is nearly impossible to play George Bailey without sounding a bit like James Stewart. And while Arana isn’t doing Stewart directly, there are hints of Jimmy in his swagger and sway, his vocal timbre, and of course he’s been made up to enhance his slight resemblance to Stewart. Arana is perfect for the role. And he easily moves from the ambitious dreamer to the practical unintended patriarch of the family to the stoic business man to the desperate lost soul we see just before the happy ending.

Wade Elkins. Photo by Mark Frohna and courtesy of the Milwaukee Repertory Theater.

In my mind, an old time radio play would be actors sitting at tables in front of microphones with foley sound effect masters at one end and the musicians at the other. But that’s just for the radio…here we have a play…so it feels more like a staged reading as the players move front to center to stage left or right to interact as they recite their dialogue. And the actors all take turns playing the accompaniment on the piano and perform the sound effects…from police whistles to clomping feet to chimes to balloon pops to uncounted door slams! Part of the humor inherent in Hetler’s staging is the over the top actions employed when the actors are creating the various sound effects. Voila. But I fear for the longevity of the two front and center microphones as they are repeatedly adjusted up and down to accommodate the varied height of the cast.

Yes there is a happy ending as nurture and friendship wins out over greed and avarice and love once again conquers all.

And I almost forgot to mention that there are ads within the radio broadcast of our play within the play. They are ingenious and refer back to the movie and to the city of WMKE!

It’s A Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play will be presented by the Milwaukee Rep in their Stackner Cabaret Theater until December 21, 2025. Ticket information here!

Running Time: Approximately 1 hour and 40 minutes with no intermission. Recommended Age: 10 and up

Extra Credit Reading: The Playbill!

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Renaissance Theaterworks Takes Us To Switzerland And

proves that not everyone there is, shall we say, neutral.

Patricia Highsmith was a popular 20th Century writer and novelist who is most famous for giving the world, The Talented Mr. Ripley. Despite her success as a novelist, Highsmith had a reputation for being rude and impolite and rather combative socially. A bit of a curmudgeon if you will, who has become something of a recluse in the Swiss Alps. And Joanna Murray-Smith has written Switzerland generously based on her late life with all of the angst, drama, and mystery worthy of a Ripley novel. Such elegant, dense, rich, and profound language needs to be experienced in the theater.

Highsmith the character says at one point, first, I don’t talk about writing and second, I don’t talk about writing. Which leaves me wondering where I stand…but Murray-Smith goes on to expound on writing in her dialogue. Not the how of writing but the why, the reason, the ability to create space, the sensibility to create an environment, the imagination to build a story, and finally the wherewithal to populate it all with enchanting characters. And Murray-Smith does so in spades with Switzerland.

Linda Reiter and Miles Blue in Renaissance Theaterworks’ production of “Switzerland” by Joanna Murray-Smith.  Photo by Ross Zentner. Photo courtesy of RTW.

There are only two actors here. Patricia Highsmith the novelist whom we visit in her Swiss home. An elegant spare home with the things that she values and loves. Highsmith is played by Linda Reiter but the evening I attended, understudy Laura T. Fisher brought real life to the role. And she has a visitor, Edward, played by Miles Blue, who has been sent by her American publisher to get her to sign a new contract for a hopefully in the works new Ripley novel.

Linda Reiter and Miles Blue in Renaissance Theaterworks’ production of “Switzerland” by Joanna Murray-Smith.  Photo by Ross Zentner. Photo courtesy of RTW.

It doesn’t always go well…as the two adversaries circle and parry and pace about the room looking for an opening and a place to stick the proverbial knife. Here is where we get the incredible wordplay…get distracted a moment and you will miss something deep and noteworthy. Blue is simply fluid in his movement, exhibiting the self-assuredness of his youth and position…and his confidence that he can flatter this older writer into signing the contract. But Fisher’s Highsmith is having none of that and questions his youth and his skill and his experience and insures him that she is not signing.

Here is where director Laura Gordon brings her own experience and vision to the front. It would seem to me that a two character play is very difficult to pull off effectively, visually, when the play relies so heavily on word play. But she keeps them moving around the set and keeps our attention on both actors while they discuss writing and life in the Swiss Alps and the changes in life in America and don’t you want to write a new even greater novel? Blue and Fisher stay on track, stay in character, and share the space. And of course there are threats…as Highsmith threatens to throw Edward out and when Edward threatens to leave. Both characters are willing to go to the precipice but neither is ready to take the leap. The are each too fascinated with the other to break off their engagement.

Linda Reiter in Renaissance Theaterworks’ production of “Switzerland” by Joanna Murray-Smith.  Photo by Ross Zentner. Photo courtesy of RTW.

Now don’t get me wrong, this isn’t just a word play. There is certainly a good sense of humor throughout but also more than a fair share of suspense. How could there not be when Highsmith’s occupation has led her to amass a collection of weapons proudly displayed over the mantle and an encyclopedic knowledge of poisons saucily recited over breakfast.

At the end of the first act they come to a truce of sorts and a wager of another sort. But that just gets us ready to experience the final surprise and conclusion…which I won’t bring to the page….again something you should experience. But it is a grand surprise and an elegant if troublesome ending but it is after all about the author of the Ripley novels!

Switzerland continues at Renaissance Theaterworks through November 9. 2025 at 255 SWater Street Milwaukee, WI. Ticket information here

Content Advisory: SWITZERLAND contains bigoted language that accurately reflects Patricia Highsmith’s troubling world view.

Linda Reiter in Renaissance Theaterworks’ production of “Switzerland” by Joanna Murray-Smith.  Photo by Ross Zentner. Photo courtesy of RTW.

One quibble: given Highsmith’s focus on everything in its place, the turntable should have been out for the first act and not introduced to the set at intermission. The Marina Abramović book could have lived somewhere else but still on view.

And personal aside. As a former record store manager and owner and LP collector I so wanted to go on stage flip through Highsmith’s record collection.

Extra Credit Reading: Playbill and Audience Guide