It’s A Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play will have its Broadway premiere at the Broadhurst Theatre this holiday season, with Andrew Rannells as George Bailey and Megan Hilty as Mary, in a strictly limited nine-week engagement that begins previews on Wednesday, November 4.
Opening night is Wednesday, November 18, and the final performance is Sunday, January 3, 2027, so the run covers the whole of the holiday season and ends the weekend after New Year.
Tituss Burgess plays the angel Clarence, among other roles, and the married couple Harry Hamlin and Lisa Rinna complete the billed company: Hamlin as the villainous Mr. Potter and others, Rinna as the town socialite Violet and others. Jerry Zaks, a four-time Tony Award winner, directs.
The format matters as much as the names. Joe Landry’s adaptation of the Frank Capra story, which draws on Philip Van Doren Stern’s The Greatest Gift, puts the audience in the studio of a 1940s radio broadcast at Christmas, where a company of actors performs the tale live on air. The five principals voice dozens of Bedford Falls residents between them, a foley artist makes the sound effects in plain view, and there are carols along the way.
“This production’s unique format as a radio play calls back to the charm of a bygone era, while also folding in exciting surprises to thrill modern audiences,” Zaks said.
The billing draws on television recognition at least as much as on stage credits. Rannells is a two-time Tony nominee, for The Book of Mormon and Falsettos; Hilty is also a two-time nominee, for Noises Off and Death Becomes Her, and remains closely associated with NBC’s Smash. Burgess, a six-time Emmy nominee for Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, has played Mary Todd Lincoln in Oh, Mary! on Broadway. Hamlin and Rinna have shared a Broadway stage before, as Billy Flynn and Roxie Hart in Chicago.
Santo Loquasto designs the set and costumes, with lighting by Kenneth Posner and sound by Palmer Heffernan. Andy Einhorn is the music director.
Tickets are sold through Telecharge, and the production’s official site is ItsAWonderfulLifeBway.com.
