APT's "This Wonderful Life" is a welcome virtual visit to Bedford Falls

By Gwendolyn Rice, OnMilwaukee.com

American Players Theatre’s holiday performance of "This Wonderful Life," created wholly by Core Company Member Nate Burger and longtime APT director William Brown, is a pure (online) delight. It proves once again that a superlative actor can create whole worlds – completely capturing our imaginations with a gesture, a laugh or a wink – on a bare stage. And even in the worst of these COVID times, they can conjure stories that practically glow with holiday cheer through our computer screens.

When I first heard about the one-man show "This Wonderful Life," I cynically assumed that this adaptation of Frank Capra’s classic holiday movie was created by, and for, an actor who did a killer Jimmy Stewart impression. But it turns out, there is no room for cynicism in any part of this dazzling version of the beloved 1946 film that follows the life of George Bailey and his remarkable impact on the people of his hometown, Bedford Falls.

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