Originally titled Here's Love on its debut in 1963, Meredith Wilson later changed it to Miracle on 34th Street, as it was based on the 1947 film of that name that featured Maureen O'Hara, John Payne, Edmund Gwenn, and a young Natalie Wood. -- An updated 1994 film with a marvelous Richard Attenborough as Kris Kringle is another popular variation.
Wilson's musical rendition of Miracle on 34th Street contains orchestrations of his oeuvre familiar to those aficionados of The Music Man, leaving audiences tapping their collective toes or relishing the romantic moments. -- And though Wilson wrote music, lyrics, and book, Pike Road's director James Keith Posey and company occasionally use references to later dates than in the 1963 text.
Posey has as usual collected a multi-talented ensemble of actors young and old[er] to give energy to Wilson's rather lackluster story that leaves a few issues unresolved. -- Divorcee Doris Walker [Mara Woddal, in fine voice] organizes the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade that culminates with Santa Claus arriving to start the Christmas Season and the shopping frenzy that follows. Her daughter Susan [Ruby Mallory] has been brought up to not believe in Santa, but when Kris Kringle [a thoroughly believable Sam Wallace] saves the day as a last minute substitute for the drunk Santa who Doris had hired, it doesn't take long for Susan, in the company of neighbor/lawyer Fred Gailey [Jason Isbell] to realize that Kris is the real Santa, whose lessons about faith and humanity and compassion and treating everyone with love are the backbone of the plot.
It's good to see Lee Bridges back on-stage as department store tycoon R. H.Macy, Kristen Vanderwal as a bewildered Miss Crookshank, and Assistant Director Jason Morgan providing yet another excellent comic portrayal as Marvin Shellhammer. -- And when Kris is sent to court to test his sanity, Eric Arvidson gives a solid performance as Judge Martin Group who is faced with the dilemma of determining that Santa Claus does exist and in the person of Kris Kringle.
All this is told in two acts over two-and-a-half hours [a bit overlong], with numerous pitch-perfect songs by the cast and Ensemble -- "Arm in Arm", "You Don't Know", "Here's Love", "Pine Cones and Holly Berries/It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas", "That Man Over There" and "Love Come Take Me" -- and production numbers delightfully choreographed by Kim Isbell.
There was a festive atmosphere in the theatre last night, even though the audience was small. Yet, Meredith Wilson's Miracle on 34th Street remains one of the Christmas Season's engaging stories to share with the River Region.
