From the Podium: It’s a Wonderful Life Reimagined
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From the Podium: It’s a Wonderful Life Reimagined

07 Nov From the Podium: It’s a Wonderful Life Reimagined

Posted at 17:34h in Uncategorized by

Dear Friends,

“Whenever a bell rings, an angel gets his wings,”— familiar words from the classic holiday film It’s a Wonderful Life. They are so well-known, I was startled when a young lady in the children’s chorus asked, “Why is it ‘his’ and not ‘hers’”? Why, indeed? But the question gave me pause. The world today would be unrecognizable to George Bailey. Is his story still relevant?

George Bailey’s America was as diverse as ours, but that diversity wasn’t evident in the film. In his world, the great singer Marian Anderson was not allowed to walk through the front door of the concert hall in Washington, D.C., where she was to perform, because she was a woman of color. Marginalized and interned American men and women volunteered to fight in a war for freedoms to which they had little or no access. Yet, the film’s universal message of good overcoming evil is not only relevant today but desperately needed in this time of political chaos and climate crisis.

Because of a child’s innocent question, Ars Choralis will tell George Bailey’s wonderful life story in a new way, with the power of love and friendship at its centerpiece and imbued with the diversity of life in the 1940s, closer to the way it was.

Come and experience our reimagined It’s a Wonderful Life for yourself: holiday songs that go straight to the heart, the swinging style of the big-band era, familiar images from the film, and heart-wrenching pictures of the America of World War II. Enjoy performances by Ars Choralis, The Ellenville Elementary Select Chorus, the Bob Shaut Ain’t Misbehavin’ Band, Kristen Tuttman at the piano, and George and Clarence and all their friends from Bedford Falls.

And of course, bells aplenty ringing in wings for all angels (no restrictions).

With warmest holiday greetings,

Barbara

It’s A Wonderful Life Reimagined will be performed in Kingston at 7 p.m. on Saturday evening, December 7 at Redeemer Lutheran Church. It will be performed again on Sunday, December 8 at 4 p.m. at Overlook Methodist Church in Woodstock. Tickets available here.