No Miracles in this Bad Play
It’s Christmas season. Yes. And I am not a Scrooge or a humbug. I DO give to charity. I do not wish to boil anyone in a Christmas pudding, nor stab anyone in the heart with a sprig of holly. And I am kind to my nephew.
That preamble brings me to the Riverbank Theatre’s current production of Miracle on 34th Street: The Musical.
This play, based on the well-worn 1947 Christmas movie starring then-child actress Natalie Wood, screen beauty Maureen O’Hara as her mother and the wonderful Edmund Gwen as Kris Kringle. There was also a very able supporting cast–from John Payne as the neighbor/lawyer who defends Kringle in court to Gene Lockhart (who played Bob Cratchit in the 1938 A Christmas Carol) as the Judge, and a cantankerous worldly William Frawley (Fred Mertz from I Love Lucy) as the Judge’s political advisor. This musical was first produced in 1963 as Here’s Love, an effort no doubt to keep the audiences coming long after the Christmas trees were collected from the curb. I guess it worked as it ran until late spring.
The show was written by Meredith Willson, who gave us no less a timeless masterpiece as The Music Man. This play was written, though, it seems with Willson facing a huge tax bill from the IRS over mis-reported income from The Music Man. Why else would Willson, who also wrote The Unsinkable Molly Brown, lower himself to grind out this dreck based on an already successful movie. True, there are many examples of this genre, like the new School of Rock on Broadway. But this show simply does not deliver, and never did.
The story is fun, as written by Valentine Davies for the film. Doris Walker is an employee at Macy’s Dept. store in charge of the Thanksgiving parade. She hires a Santa who insists he is the real Kris Kringle, who, in the spirit of the season, sends children and parents to arch-rival Gimbels and other department stores for goods Macy’s does not have, or for better prices. Ms. Walker, a bitter, snarky, stiff divorcee who teaches her young daughter, Susan, to disregard the fancies of Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny and other tales, is wooed by neighbor-lawyer Fred Gaily who represents Kris when Macy’s employee psychiatrist tries to commit him to a mental hospital for insisting he is the real deal from the North Pole.
While the film has a lot of charm, Willson seems to have made it his business to whittle away at it by, among other things, writing dialogue that has Fred calling Doris “a dame,” in a really coarse way that is not right for the play, or the period for this character. Puzzling and off-putting.
The Riverbank, which is a key hub of renaissance for Marine City, Michigan–operating not only this theatre, but the black-box Snug Theatre–unfortunately chose a weak show to put on this month, and unfortunately cast some totally inexperienced actors in key roles–assembling what sounds like a volunteer orchestra and ushered in kids from the local schools for the parade scene like they were paying in donuts. Okay, local parades are often populated with well-meaning amateurs, so maybe that is not too far from the reality of a parade, but not the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade! This community-ish production was no doubt “awwwww” inspiring for parents, close friends and the residents of Marine City. But it doesn’t rise to the level of professional theater. Take note.
Willson’s tunes are forgettable in this play. In the hands of this well-meaning production they were wince-worthy at times. I hesitate to even call out actors by name here. But I will give Graham Allan, who, according to his bio, had not been on stage for 50 years, some props for looking the part of Santa and giving it his best shot. He was earnest, not awful, and I was rooting for him. Sami Skrocki as young Susan was sparky and precocious. Jeffrey Pedue, a seasoned pro who had to wonder why he agreed to do the show, was animated and funny as Mr. Sawyer, the nail-biting nasty psychiatrist who wants to put poor Kris in the nervous hospital and deny kids everywhere their access to real Santa.
But as a whole, the show, directed by Kathy Vertin, perhaps would have been better presented under a different theatrical umbrella company that puts on actual community theatre–which this felt very much like–at The Riverbank right down to the Mayor of Marine City doing a quaint cameo as the Mayor of New York City.
The Riverbank is still finding itself as a true professional theater to be taken seriously as “professional,” if not Equity. It has climbed the ladder with a few productions, but it has made some iffy choices in both of its theaters–either choosing scripts that are beyond the scope of its talent pool, or over-producing with over-wrought stagecraft. This show doesn’t help the journey.
Given the awareness of the story via the film, I have no doubt that the show will sell lots and lots of tickets. Too, the patrons in the Marine City area seem loyal and very happy to have a couple of theaters in their backyard, and many will enjoy this Miracle. And that’s all good…on some level. Perhaps I’m too demanding? Should lighten up for the Christmas season? Perhaps there should be a separate standard for Christmas shows? No. Quality begets quality at up and coming theaters. And when standards are allowed to slide, nothing good comes comes of that down the road.
God bless us, and God save us, everyone. I’ll retire to bedlam.