You like these people as soon as they walk onto the stage, talking and laughing together like old friends. They're having a get-together, and it just so happens that they'll be reading a play in the midst of it.

The most notable feature of Ted Rooney's production is the utter lack of the theatrical "4th wall." The cast wants you to feel like you're as close as you can be without actually standing on stage. So they walk among you with sincere smiles, offering kisses both the chocolate and real sort, and lead the audience in hearty Christmas carols.

The reading of the play is "It's a Wonderful Life," truncated, but very similar to the holiday movie classic. In fact Jon St. Nicolas and Joe Cronin seem to be directly channeling their classic counterparts Jimmy Stewart and Lionel Barrymore in tone and inflection. The play also struggles with the challenge of keeping a modern audience's attention with a performance that has very little action; movement is limited to actors sipping tea and hovering to and from their microphones.

I believe this is a performance intended to be more felt than watched, and in that it succeeds very well. The atmosphere created is a darling one, thoroughly comfortable and familiar. This play wants to give you a hug, and you'll feel willing to take it.

As an aside, you may feel you recognize the piano player. He's director Ted Rooney, and if you watch TV regularly, you may have seen him in "Gilmore Girls," "CSI," or "Malcolm in the Middle." He's also Abraham Lincoln in the Rozerem commercials.