Setting the stage for holiday season

The Sebastopol Ballet performs the Nutcracker December 21-23. (John Burgess/PD)

As the holidays draw near, the Nutcracker Prince and Ebenezer Scrooge will start taking over local stages. But there are some new spirits in the air, too.

One dramatic departure from the traditional holiday shows this season is a musical stage version of Frank Capra’s classic 1946 Christmas film, “It’s a Wonderful Life,” at Santa Rosa’s 6th Street Playhouse.

But instead of the elderly would-be angel named Clarence from the movie version, disillusioned good guy George Bailey gets counsel from young Clara, a “little spunky whipper-snapper, mischievous cherub,” said Craig Miller, artistic director at 6th Street.

Like the movie, the play’s story offers George a chance to see what the world would have lacked without him. The show features original songs by Sebastopol composer Janis Dunson Wilson and a new adaptation by Petaluma playwright Larry Williams of the movie’s original story.

“This is a brand-new version. It’s slightly based on what Janis Wilson had done in the past at the Cinnabar Theater in Petaluma, which was a children’s version of the show based on the movie,” Miller said.

“It’s a Wonderful Life,” opening Nov. 30 at the 6th Street Playhouse, is one of many choices for live, local holiday shows, including “Seussical, The Musical” at the Cinnabar and “Jacob Marley’s Christmas Carol” in Rio Nido.