Libertyville man juggles roles in 'Wonderful Life'
You couldn't think of two more different characters in the holiday classic “It's a Wonderful Life” than flinty Mr. Potter and the warmhearted but wingless angel, Clarence. But Libertyville resident Egon Schein gets to play both in The Improv Playhouse Radio Players' version of the story.
“This is my third year in a row playing Mr. Potter and Clarence,” Schein says. Is it hard making the switch? “I just take my hat off to play Mr. Potter. He is an indoor sort of guy.”
Of course elaborate costumes don't fit with the basic premise of this version of the story.
The tale of down-on-his-luck George Bailey is presented as a re-creation of a 1940s era radio play, complete with microphones and sound effects. In fact, the script for “It's a Wonderful Life” closely resembles the one originally performed March 10, 1947, on the Lux Radio Theater.
Schein, who is a dentist during the day in Waukegan, has a long history performing radio scripts live. He is a member of the Lake County chapter of Those Were the Days Radio Players, a troupe dedicated to performing short radio scripts in places like public libraries.
“It started when I went to a Those Were the Days radio broadcast in Chicago,” Schein says. “They announced that in two weeks we were going to do auditions for a live re-creation of the Fibber McGee and Molly show. My wife said I was a pretty big ham and I should do it. I tried out and guess who got to be Fibber McGee.”
Playing the comic radio character was a real kick for Schein, who grew up on radio. “I heard the broadcast of ‘It's a Wonderful Life' when it was first broadcast on the radio,” he says.
It didn't hurt that he had been appearing in community theater shows since 1983 when he starred in a local production of “Fiddler on the Roof.” He also, for a long time, played the title character in “Scrooge,” the musical version of “A Christmas Carol.”
Schein started appearing in productions at The Improv Playhouse Radio Players when someone caught his performance in a Those Were the Days show and recommended him. Schein tried out, and he has been with Improv ever since.
“I don't prepare for performances anymore,” he says. “Standing up reading a script is not hard. To get myself into character, I just practice the voices and then I read them. I don't go into a trance or anything like that. I have been a mimic since I was a little kid. ... People forget how to do it, but I kept on doing it.”
• “It's a Wonderful Life” will run Saturday and Sunday, Dec. 18-19, at the Improv Playhouse, 735 N. Milwaukee Ave., Libertyville. For tickets, call (847) 968-4529 or go to improvplayhouse.com.