Love Actually Live is back, and even if you were fortunate enough to savor its every magical musical minute last Christmas at The Wallis, a cast that’s two-thirds new for 2019 makes this year’s reincarnation that much more of a holiday must-see.

There’s probably no other year-end movie classic to match Richard Curtis’s 2003 romcom of romcoms for its pitch-perfect mix of comedy, comfort, and joy, and with For The Record executive producer/co-creator Shane Scheel and adapter-director Anderson Davis once again confectioning a seamless mix of filmed scenes from the 2003 Golden Globe Best Picture nominee and live performances by as spectacular a cast as any pop music lover could wish for, this unique stage hybrid beats an at-home repeat viewing by a mile.

The onscreen/onstage characters are the same ones that movie fans have lovingly embraced these past sixteen years, including:

Jamie (Declan Bennett), who upon learning that his wife and brother are more than just in-laws, heads south to a French village where his Portuguese housekeeper Aurelia (Gabriela Carrillo) does more than just keep things spic-and-span.

Newly elected Prime Minister David (John Battagliese), who finds in Natalie (Carrie Manolakos) more than simply an efficient new member of the household staff at 10 Downing Street.

Mark (James Byous), whose secret love for his best mate Peter’s (Rogelio Douglas, Jr.) new bride Juliet (Ruby Lewis) inspires one of the movie’s most imitated scenes.

Business exec Harry (Doug Kreeger), whose longtime marriage to Karen (Tomasina Abate) is threatened by his sultry, seductive office assistant Mia (Lewis) as Mia’s coworker Sarah (Aubrie Sellers) finds her dream-come-true romance with a hunky work colleague jeopardized by the needs of a mentally ill brother.

Sam (Levi Smith), the preteen son of recently widowed Daniel (Jon Robert Hall), hopelessly in love in love with a classmate named Joanna (Nayah Damasen).

Billy Mack (Rex Smith), an aging rocker hoping that lightning will strike twice with a holiday remake of one of his all-time Greatest Hits.

Movie stand-ins John and Judy (Tom Zmuda and Mollie Rogers), whose latest gig has them stripping down to their birthday suits for some steamy simulated sex.

Colin (Alex Csillag), who heads off to Milwaukee convinced that his British accent will score him success with the opposite sex that he can’t seem to find in the U.K.

Instead of simply alternating filmed scenes with live songs, director Davis finds ever more ingenious ways to integrate the live and the prerecorded.

Filmed snippets of Peter and Juliet’s wedding take turns with a live ceremony down below with the entire horn section popping in for a sing-along-ready “All You Need Is Love,” stage Billy performs “Christmas Is All Around” as screen Billy does the same above him, and an exuberant “Jump (For My Love)” has the PM’s stage persona dancing into his screen incarnation and back.

Meanwhile, songs like “Puppy Love,” “River,” and “Both Sides Now” connect multiple plot lines as characters experiencing the same emotions join voices to breathtaking effect.

Last but not least, having Zmuda, Rogers, and Csillag perform their parts on (respectively) clarinet, violin, and trombone is one of director Anderson’s niftiest conceits, and never more so than when Zmuda and Rogers recreate one of John and Judy’s racier porn moves quite deliciously indeed.

Featuring all but one of the tunes that made the movie soundtrack a top-40 hit (“Wherever You Will Go,” “White Christmas,” “The Trouble With Love Is,” and “God Only Knows” among them), Love Actually Live bookends the production with a particularly gorgeous “Love Actually Is All Around” that adds Audra Mae’s lyrics to one of composer Craig Armstrong’s exquisite love themes.

Supervisor-arranger-orchestrator Jesse Vargas and a 13-piece orchestra not only provide virtuoso accompaniment to Annmarie Millazzo’s vocal design, their live recreation of Armstrong’s sumptuous movie score make projected scenes even more thrilling.

Cast returnees Abate, Carson Higgins, Kreeger, Emily Lopez, Manolakos, and (Rex) Smith are matched every step of the way by newcomers, Battagliese, Bennett, Byous, Carrillo, Damasen, Douglas, Hall, Lewis, Sellers, and (Levi) Smith, who not only deliver the vocal goods, they dance up a storm to Sumié Maeda’s infectious choreography.

Aaron Rhyne once again merits major snaps for his brilliantly inventive video/projection design and scenic designer Matthew Steinbrenner for an endlessly morphing set featuring multiple screens of various sizes and configurations alongside properties designer Carissa Huizenga’s Christmas presents and home and office paraphernalia galore.

Costumer Steve Mazurek has done a terrific job of designing outfits to resemble their screen counterparts, and thanks to hair-wig-makeup designer Cassie Russek the transformation for the women is quite remarkable. Michael Berger’s lighting is as dazzling as lighting designs get. Sound designer Benjamin Soldate help make the production sound as good as it looks.

Casting is by Stewart/Whitley. Chris Mann plays Daniel on December 8, 10, 11, and 12.

Brooke Baldwin is production stage manager and Christina Bryan is assistant stage manager. Rick V. Moreno steps in as assistant stage manager December 21-29.

Forget about this year’s annual living-room screening of everybody’s favorite Christmas-season romcom and head on over to The Wallis in Beverly Hills. As it was in 2018, Love Actually Live is once again December’s most scrumptious theatrical treat.

Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, Bram Goldsmith Theater, 9390 N. Santa Monica Boulevard, Beverly Hills.
www.thewallis.org

–Steven Stanley
December 4, 2019
Photos: Kevin Parry

Tags: For The Record, Los Angeles Theater Review, The Wallis Annenberg Center For The Arts