Every year around this time, we get a reminder that acting's a largely lost art with the masterful performances of Jimmy Stewart and Donna Reed in that devastating (if way-too-overplayed) Christmas classic, "It's A Wonderful Life."
This time, rather than getting it on grainy cable, the Music Box Theater is giving us a chance to catch the agony and the ecstasy of George Bailey in its full, big-screen glory, with plenty of Christmas festivity to boot.
The 27th Annual Music Box Christmas Show will screen a double feature of "It's A Wonderful Life" and Irving Berlin's musical "White Christmas," starring Bing Crosby. Plus, Santa himself will be in attendance, leading the audience in a Christmas music sing-along with lyrics projected on the big screen. (Hat tip to Chicagoist.)
Scroll down for details on the event. But first, we had to leave you with a clip. Sure, we could have gone with the "lasso the moon" scene ("Youth is wasted on the wrong people": brilliant) or the famous "working and paying and living and dying" speech. For our money, though, this one captures just how heartbreaking the movie can be: at once romantic, beautiful, funny, and profoundly tragic.
What: 27th Annual Music Box Christmas Show
When: Wednesday, Dec. 22 - Friday, Dec. 24, 12:30 p.m. and 6:40 p.m.
Where Music Box Theater
3733 N. Southport Ave., Chicago
Price: $14 for a single feature, $20 for the double feature
Purchase tickets here.