‘Miracle on 34th Street’

Bucks County Playhouse revisits a family favorite.

By: Stuart Duncan
   In the old days we would not have to worry about the holiday season at Bucks County Playhouse. The venerable theater on the banks of the Delaware would close its doors just after Halloween and rest until May. Nowadays, the place is still buzzing with excitement throughout the autumn, right up to the day or so before Christmas.
   So we have a holiday show, Miracle on 34th Street, and it is a dandy. The piece is based squarely on the 1947 movie of the same name and a novel by Valentine Davies (real name, honest). It tells the classic tale of a Macy’s department store Santa so enchanting and loved by both children and shoppers that he is deemed dangerous by fellow employees, who question his competency and plot to ruin him. A small girl’s belief in Santa and the magic of the holiday is at stake in a plot that ends with a climactic courtroom decision.
   Playhouse director Michael Licata has assembled a first-rate company and set a bubble-light pace. By using rear projection photos, a spirited stage crew, clever lighting and a chorale group ready at an instant to break into transitional music, he has brought the show to the final curtain in just 100 minutes, with the audience happy and excited.
   Of course he has tremendous help from the talented cast: Jim Lynch and Lauren Brader play the young couple searching for a good reason to be lovey-dovey. They do it with realism, given a Hollywood script that makes true emotion sound sappy. Clare Norden, a third-grader from Newtown, Pa., steals every scene she is in without ever hitting a false note. Bob Marcus makes a fine Santa and various Playhouse favorites appear in cameo roles, including Louis Palena, Peter Martino, Tressa McCallister, Patrick Ludt, Ryan Cook, Penny Larsen, Jordan Brennan and Jill Palena.
   Macy’s gets plenty of good will. And so does Gimbel’s. Bellevue Hospital gets to be the villain and the U.S. Postal Service gets to be the hero. Not bad for one show.
Miracle on 34th Street continues at Bucks County Playhouse, 70 S. Main St.,
New Hope, Pa., through Dec. 23. Performances: Wed.-Thurs. 2, 8 p.m.; Fri. 8 p.m.;
Sat. 4, 8 p.m.; Sun. 2 p.m. Tickets cost $22-$24. For information, call (215)
862-2041. On the Web: www.buckscountyplayhouse.com