Stage Review - Miracle on 34th Street, the Play (Edmonds Driftwood Players)
Stage Review - Miracle on 34th Street, the Play
Presented By: Edmonds Driftwood Players - Edmonds, WA
Show Run: November 22 - December 15, 2024
Date Reviewed: Thursday, December 12, 2024
Run Time: 2 Hours (including a 15-minute intermission)
Reviewed By: Greg Heilman
Is there any other Christmas movie more iconic than the 1947 classic Miracle on 34th Street? For my money, there are only a few films that I put on every year, and this is most definitely always near the top of my list. Sure, there’s the 1994 remake, which is generally good, it has a more serious tone at times, but is also a bit sanitized, replacing the department store names of Macy’s and Gimbel’s from the original, which to me is more of a comment on the modern landscape of securing rights and royalties than anything, but it can’t touch the original. When I saw that the Edmonds Driftwood Players (EDP) were putting up the stage version of Miracle on 34th Street, my first reaction was one of hesitancy. For context, a few years ago, I took in the stage version of another holiday classic, It’s a Wonderful Life, and to say I was disappointed in the adaptation is an understatement along the lines of saying that Santa is a bit pudgy. I felt that the Wonderful Life adaptation was constructed as just a series of scenes from the movie, like a television clip show, with no real flow between them, banking on the fact that audiences would be familiar with it coming in and would be able to connect the dots themselves, but for those who came in unfamiliar, and there were a few, it made it a bit difficult to follow. So, with this trepidation, I entered the Edmonds Driftwood Players’ Wade James Theatre on Thursday evening, the start of their closing weekend, to see their version of Miracle on 34th Street, in a production directed by Paul Fleming.
So as to not keep you in suspense, because I know you’re all on the edge of your seats, or more likely because you’re using this as some light bedtime reading to help you doze off and I want to catch you before you nod off, Miracle on 34th Street is not It’s a Wonderful Life. Yes, it’s different than the film, but not altogether much. All of the major plot points are there, the Santa Claus that Macy’s hires for their parade shows up drunk, allowing the man who calls himself Kris Kringle to take over for him, leading him to become the store Santa where a debate ensues about not just the existence of Santa Claus, but also whether this Kris is Santa himself. In the play, it’s just a little quicker to get from plot point to plot point, but while they’ve eliminated some of what may seem like filler from the film in the interest of time, there is still a decent flow in the way it’s been constructed. All of the familiar characters are still here as well, in addition to Kris, of course. Doris Walker, the Macy’s employee who hires Kris as the store Santa, and her daughter Susan, caught between her mother’s “seeing is believing” philosophy and neighbor Fred Gayley’s enthusiastic kid-at-heart belief in Santa and Christmas. Mr. Macy and Mr. Gimbel are here, as are Mrs. Shellhammer, head of the Macy’s toy department, and Mrs. Sawyer, the store psychologist, the true antagonist of the story. Sawyer seems even more evil here than in the film version, and while she is still the one who tricks Kris into being sent to Bellevue Hospital, the audience doesn’t really see how she does it, in one of those plot shortcuts I referred to above. On the other hand, Kris’ doctor from the retirement home he lived in prior to coming to Macy’s, Doctor Pierce, has a little more exposition in this adaptation, as does it seems the judge in his case, Judge Harper. In short, it’s similar enough to hit all of the key points of the film that makes it special, while keeping a nice flow between scenes, and different enough to make it interesting.
The EDP production, which of note is sold out through the end of its run, itself is generally simple in its presentation, relies heavily on projections for backgrounds, and uses well constructed pieces in the foreground of its scenes. Brian Fletcher is the scenic designer for the show, Cami Taliaferro-Barber is responsible for lighting, and Henry S. Brown, Jr. is the sound designer. This team has done a good job presenting the show, with well chosen backgrounds to match the scenes, whether it’s the area behind the judge’s pulpit in his courtroom, or the view out of the window in his office, or from Doris’ house, they all work well, and Cami’s lighting works well in coordination with them. I also appreciate that before the show even begins, on the curtain is projected video of old Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parades, from the time in which the story is set. It’s fun to see how far the parade has come over the years, but it also serves as a pretty creative segue into the show when the curtain rises onto Thanksgiving Day in 1947. While I typically prefer shows that shy away from a large reliance on projections and skew toward bigger sets for backgrounds, that doesn’t bother me with this show, the only thing I would change is that I wish they could do something with the floor of the stage, instead of keeping it black. The starkness of the black stage floor makes the set look a bit flat, while painting it or otherwise decorating it in some other manner would make it jump out a little more.
The cast that Paul Fleming has assembled does a very nice job with these characters as well, and they don’t just mimic those from the film. It has to start with Kris Kringle, though, and David Hayes is extremely good here. This show doesn’t call for a “Ho Ho Ho” Santa, but rather one that is matter of fact, he believes that he is the real Santa Claus, and as such his portrayal has to be on the more serious side. David nails the nuance of this Santa, with a slight accent, a quiet and understated delivery, and a confidence in his identity that leads to a tinge of anger, but not too much, when pushed. There’s a bit of sadness with his character as well, enough that it’s hard to put a finger on whether or not he’s the real deal, and that’s kind of the point, but I’ll be honest, he even looks the part and I simply love his portrayal. Meanwhile, Annie St. John is Doris Walker, June Kelleher is daughter Susan, and Asa Sholdez is Fred Gayley. Each of these actors perform their parts exactly the way they need to for the story to work on stage. Annie’s Doris is all business, but it’s clear she loves her daughter, June is very good as the girl who wants to believe, despite her mother’s insistence that she be more serious about her life, and Asa is so good as the exuberant Fred, who plays such an important role in Kris’ story arc. Macy’s toy department manager Mrs. Shellhammer, played by Rita Baxter, seems frantic, and frustrated of course when Kris begins steering families away from Macy’s if another store has a better price or selection, while Dawn Cornell is excellent as the evil Sawyer, who has it out for Kris from the beginning. Jeff Strom is Kris’ Doctor Pierce and also does a fine job, but I think I’m most impressed with David Alan Morrison’s turn as Judge Harper. Listening to David run through his lines, I can see where there is an opportunity to perform them straight, but whether it was his choice to alternatively add humor to the delivery or whether it was Paul’s as Director, the choice to do so was the right one. David’s Judge Harper still does everything the judge needs to for the story to work and for our belief in Kris as Santa Claus to be maintained as it is in the movie, but the way he does it is so funny, he really adds so much to this show.
Beyond the leads listed above, there are plenty of others in the cast worthy of callouts, though they’re not listed individually in the program. Whoever plays the gentleman who is both the radio voice and the mailroom worker is extremely funny, and has a wonderful voice for the radio, Macy and Gimbel are both good, and the bailiff in the courtroom scene as well as the district attorney all do a fine job with their characters. Finally, Josias Allestad, Sage Jennings, Nina McKinstry, and Jacob Schallenkamp add a decent amount of humor as the elves supporting Santa in this version of the story.
Miracle on 34th Street remains one of the most popular classic Christmas films in the history of cinema, and is so in large part because of its themes of family, new beginnings, and trusting in what we believe. Macy’s Department Store has built an entire marketing campaign on that tradition of belief that stems from the film, and as the story makes its foray from the screen to the stage, it’s nice to see that those themes remain intact, and that in doing so it has not lost any of its charm. Much of that comes down to the Edmonds Driftwood Players cast, let by David Hayes as Kris Kringle, and under the direction of Paul Fleming, who come together to deliver this classic Christmas story in a way that captures the kind of magic that the film has done for so many years.
The sold out run of Miracle on 34th Street, presented by Edmonds Driftwood Players, closes this weekend, on December 15. For more information on the theatre, and their next show, Clue, the Musical opening on March 14, visit https://edmondsdriftwoodplayers.org/.
Photo credit: Dale Sutton
