Harnick and Raposo worked for many years to put together a musical version of It's a Wonderful Life, but just as the musical's book was completed, a controversy arose over the rights to the underlying Stern story that delayed production of the show. During this delay, Raposo died of cancer in 1989.[1]
A Wonderful Life was performed initially at the University of Michigan in 1986. The first professional production took place at the Wagon Wheel Playhouse in Warsaw, Indiana, in 1988, followed by a staged reading at the Paper Mill Playhouse, Millburn, New Jersey, in 1990. It was produced at Washington, DC's Arena Stage, running from November 15, 1991, to January 5, 1992.[2]
On December 12, 2005, a staged concert version was directed by Carl Andress and choreographed by Denis Jones at the Shubert Theatre in New York City for the benefit of the Actors' Fund of America. Among the Broadway notables who participated were
Brian Stokes Mitchell as George Bailey, David Hyde Pierce as guardian angel Clarence, Judy Kuhn as Mary Bailey, Dominic Chianese as Mr. Potter, Karen Ziemba as The MC, Philip Bosco as Joseph, Marian Seldes as Mrs. Hatch, Ronn Carroll as Tom Bailey, Marc Kudisch as Sam Wainwright, Michael Berresse as Harry Bailey, Nancy Anderson as Violet, Chuck Cooper as Uncle Billy, George S. Irving as Mr. Martini, Jayne Houdyshell as Mrs. Martini, and Phylicia Rashad as Millie Bailey. The event was hosted by Actors Fund President Joseph Benincasa and Vice Chair of the Actors Fund Bebe Neuwirth.[3]
The Paper Mill Playhouse presented a fully staged production, from November through December 17, 2006, directed by James Brennan; it received moderately positive reviews.[4] Theatre Under The Stars produced the work in 2007, and it has received other regional productions.[5]
