Playful Theatre Productions gets in the holiday spirit for this musical based on ‘Miracle on 34th Street.’
By: Stuart Duncan
Meredith Willson’s Here’s Love probably has more missed opportunities than any musical that ever made Broadway. The 1963 effort was based on the classic movie, Miracle on 34th Street, but if you mention that fact, either in a press release or in the program, you must pay an additional fee. Playful Theatre Productions paid the extra money for the production at Kelsey Theatre on the Mercer County Community College campus, but it didn’t help much.
Perhaps Mr. Willson thought that he had another Music Man, merely by substituting the denizens of New York’s Herald Square, surrounding Macy’s, for the inhabitants of River City. Or that by writing songs about plastic alligators, a less-than-a-minute ditty in Dutch or a less-than-memorable tribute to "My State, My Kansas" would make audiences forget Iowa. But not likely.
Kelsey director Paula Barson and producer Martha Gasparian have clearly done what they could with the material scads of delightful little ones across the stage, including three DeClement sisters (Anabelle, Elizabeth and Emily) who do a very respectable Irish jig; a cute-as-a-button little fellow in a lion suit; an on-stage orchestra of 16 who even open the evening with a medley of Christmas tunes, led by James Capes.
Not much of it helps when Willson’s songs this time are virtually unsingable. The composer picked up the flute at age 5, and his first job was in the John Philip Sousa band, but this time his tunes amount to very little (even when the singers get the notes right). Except for a terrific performance by Tom Bessellieu, as Kris Kringle, in or out of his Santa suit, only the energy of the company impresses. Bessellieu, however, plays the story without a hint of mockery, with full sincerity, and manages to conquer even the silliest of dialogue and most hapless of lyrics.
There’s one decent song in the show "It’s Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas" but it was written (by Willson) years earlier and just stuck into this show. And Ms. Gasparian has done everything she could to spare the playwright (who also, mind you, wrote the music and the lyrics) by spelling his name wrong on the title page. In the best of the holiday spirit, she dropped the second "L" in his name. How clever No L.
One thought: With all those small ones, you can expect huge audiences of bewitched parents and doting grandparents et al. Reserve early
Here’s Love continues at Kelsey Theatre, Mercer County Community College, 1200 Old Trenton Road, West Windsor, through Dec. 7. Performances: Fri. 8 p.m., Sat. 2, 8 p.m., Sun. 2 p.m. Tickets cost $10-$14. For information, call (609) 584-9444. On the Web: www.kelseyatmccc.org