This Wonderful Life

Conceived by Mark Setlock, written by Steve Murray, and here performed by Matthew Floyd Miller, This Wonderful Life is an adaptation of the classic film to a one-man performance. I was skeptical about the success of such a venture but wanted to see the new Gerding Theater at the Armory, the new home of Portland Center Stage, so when H suggested we catch the preview, I went along.

What a fine night of theater! This one-man show is as entertaining as any I've seen. What makes this work, I think, is the careful balance in the script between telling a sentimental story already known to most in the audience and knowing this is what you're doing. So the actor-as-narrator, introducing and telling the story before slipping into one of the 35 characters portrayed, has just enough fun with the material and the attitude of its time to be "modern" on the one hand but not satiric on the other. Yes, this is smaltzy, but sometimes smaltzy works, is the narrator's attitude.

The actor is very good and helped by absolutely brilliant stagecraft. This is the level of stagecraft that was missing in the opera Faust recently, where technology got in the way. Here everything is magical, not obtrusive, as many of the visual elements of the original film are adapted for stage (the blinking lights/stars of angels in conversation, for example). This play has the best, most magical stagecraft I've seen in a very long time.

All in all, this was a great night of theater. And the facility itself is the best theater space in Portland, far better than the company's previous home at the over-rated Performing Arts Center. This addition in an area of Portland, "the Pearl," once a combination of skidrow and industrial, moves the city farther into its new personality. Yes, I miss the old bohemian city a lot but if you're going to go yuppy, this isn't a bad way to do it.