Live And Learn, Darlings!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                 Around the time of my birthday--just days before Thanksgiving--it seemed that, in every store window along Third Avenue, in Bay Ridge, I would see these huge ad posters, adverting the Narrow Community Players'--a local theater group--upcoming production of something it called "Miracle On 34th Street--The Musical."  How cute, I thought, another musical adaptation of that story!  On another day, I glanced at the poster closely, and saw the composer and lyricist, Meredith Wilson, mentioned in the ad.
Could this be his 1963 musical, originally entitled, "Here's Love!???????"

                                   Well, darlings, as it turned out, it was!  While this show was not a world beater as a musical, it had a prestigious history.  It was Wilson's last musical show, and it opened at the Shubert Theatre on October 3, 1963--50 years ago, this year!  Norman Jewison had originally been assigned to direct, but was replaced during rehearsals by Stuart Ostrow, the show's producer.  The cast was illustrious--it included Janis Paige (as Doris Walker, the Maureen O'Hara role from the 1947 movie!!!!), Craig Stevens, as aspiring attorney Fred Gaily (the John Payne role!), Laurence Naismith as Kris Kringle (which won an Oscar for Edmund Gwenn in the movie, and I think Naismith may have received at least a TONY nomination, for his efforts), Fred Gwynne (as sycophant Marvin Shellhammer, but played in this production like Queen Flambe!!!!!), David Doyle, as the nefarious psychiatrist, Mr. Sawyer, and Valerie Lee, a child who went nowhere, in the Natalie Wood role of daughter Susan Walker.

                                          Also, dancing in this production, were two youngsters who would go on to Musical Theater immortality at the Shubert, just twelve years later, in 1975, with "A Chorus Line."  Those two were Michael Bennett and Baayork Lee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                           I must have been aware of this show, as early as 1975, when I saw Baayork and the Original Company in Michael Bennett's seminal work, "A Chorus Line."  I am sure the title appeared in the credits in Lee's and Bennett's Playbill bios, and I must have thought, "Hmmm....'Here's Love.' What is that?"  Two years later, when the original "Annie" was the toast of Broadway, the Times did a story on Andrea McArdle, and the Original Orphans. One of them, Janine Ruane, was cited as having "had the leading child role of Susan Walker in a national touring production of 'Here's Love'."  That show again.  I was bound and determined to find out what the hell it was, and, when I eventually discovered it was "Miracle On 34th Street," musicalized, and that its composer-lyricist was Meredith Wilson, who penned "The Music Man," I had to hear what I thought was this gem for myself.

                                            Now, back in my early days of theatergoing, the place to search for hard to find Broadway Cast albums was a store called The Colony, then on the corner of 49th and Broadway!  One day, I flipped through the jackets, and discovered "Here's Love!"  Voila!  I also discovered it was one of their priciest show recordings--remember, this was back in 1976!!!!!!--at $45!!!!!!!!  Nevertheless, the next month, on another theater excursion to the city, I plopped into the store, and paid for the album with cash!  Though in my twenties, I then looked barely out of my teens, and I think the clerk was astonished--so much so, he gave me a $5 discount!  I took what I thought was Incan treasure home, and listened to it.

                                              And that was the last time I listened to the score!  I did learn it had one semi-standard, the secular song, "It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas," but none of the other songs matched this gem--a sad rediscovery I made, on viewing the show on stage, yesterday.

                                                What a day we had, darlings!  We had to take a car service to the Fort Hamilton Army Base, so difficult was it to find!  We had to show ID's to get in!  I was feeling like Goldie Hawn, in "Private Benjamin!"  I felt we were in some surreal nightmare, where we were going to be inducted!!!!!!!!  Me??????????  They'd do better, with Meryl Streep!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                                   The show was part of a package deal that included brunch in the Officer's Club. The building was lovely, but the event was disorganized, as they could not meet the demands of both the regulars, and those attending the show. According to Monsieur, the shrimp and clams were worth it, but the rest was pedestrian--that word choice is mine, darlings!!!!!!  And this proved to be a forerunner to the show we saw!!!!!!!!!!!

                                                    They tried, they really tried! They had a multi-tiered set, which seemed influenced by Jerome Robbins' original plans for "Gypsy."  His plan had been less a book musical than a concept musical, celebrating the history of the American variety stage!   This production of "Miracle On 34 Street--The Musical" (which, at some point, "Here's Love!" was retitled, and is now produced as!!!) tried for a concept staging celebrating the entire Holiday Season, from Thanksgiving to Christmas. Perhaps it was the original movie, and not mass marketing, that created the idea of the Holidays starting at Thanksgiving!!!! One of the few ideas I picked up from this production!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                                     This production had ambition. It cannot be denied.  It had several people who could perform and sing well--the woman playing Doris Walker had a gorgeous voice, though she was much too heavy for the part, the little girl playing Susan had a strong voice, and the actor playing Mr. Macy broke out in Act Two to reveal a gorgeous, Broadway-calibre voice.

                                                        And, just as in the movie, Edmund Gwenn stood out, in the pivotal role of Kris Kringle, so, too, did Michael Blake, here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                                         What this production did not have was a strong enough director to keep the show moving at the breakneck clip it needed to. This show should have run no longer than  two and a half hours; it clocked in at three. Inexcusable.  Granted, the material was not the best, but  the director needed to speed things up, and the choreographer needed to reign in his ambitions, because, while he was obviously trying to do some very clever things, ninety per cent of the people he was working with did not have the technical skills to pull them off. There were no Bennetts or Baayorks in this cast!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                                             Even with a top notch cast, the show would be problematic, at best. This is a show that looks great on paper, but, without a stellar score, there is no point in reviving it.

                                                               Still as a Musical Theater person/historian/whatever, I am glad I got a chance to see it!

                                                                 Because, I can almost guarantee, this will never get a revival on
Broadway! Not even with ENCORES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                                                    There is a reason, darlings!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!