Miracle On 34th Street is a festive family favourite which is enjoyed by many at this time of year, although it has admittedly passed me by in its entirety. Meredith Wilson’s classic tale has been adapted into a musical for HOME’s Christmas offering this Yuletide season.
Similar to the film’s original plot, Susan (Karis), is introduced to us as someone who doesn’t believe in Santa due to her upbringing by work-orientated guardian Dorris (Jessica Joslin). Fast forward to Macy’s Department Store’s Christmas parade through New York City, who are without their Santa due to theirs being highly intoxicated. A man named Kris Kringle (Adam Vaughan) steps up, impresses and is hired by the store to be their Santa of the season. He, however, claims to be the real Santa and sets out to prove it to Susan and her cynical guardian. This results in a court case to determine once and for all if he is the real Santa Clause.
Director Sara Joyce has made the bold attempt to try and bring the story up to the modern day, framing the original story being retold. It is, however, confusing, unnecessary and only adds to the excessive running time, currently at a whopping two hours and forty minutes. The store we initially encounter takes Susan back to what once was a magical toy shop full of classic toys, but the narrative is disjointed as the story is being told to and performed by the same person.
Directional choices of staging such as reimagining the court case inside a nursery whilst the cast sit on tiny chairs is an odd choice. The piece has plenty of slapstick moments but gets sillier and messier as time goes on, resulting in a quick resolution after the drawn out court case. With the story being set in New York and being retold in the UK, it was an inaccuracy to see US postal workers arrive to deliver letters in the US with UK Royal Mail uniforms and branding prominently displayed blurring the lines further between the stories.
Set design by Ciaran Bagnell does little to help the with the storytelling as the use of a plain black screen restricts the performers to the front of the stage frequently. Expecting a big reveal each time the screen came down, with nothing more than a few chairs or a desk being unveiled was hugely disappointing, especially when excessively used. The grandeur of the toy store is visually appealing but this soon faded as each scene is set within the department store visually, even if not intended by the narrative. Scenes lacked creativity, appeared uninteresting and were unfortunately underwhelming.
An abundance of music in the production wasn’t needed and didn’t leave a lasting impression. The finale song ‘That Man Over There Is Santa Clause’ was a toe tapping number, leaving audiences with a slight spring in their step as they left. ‘It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas’ was the obvious crowd pleaser and naturally fit in the show. However, this wasn’t the case for all the songs, especially as one focused on stereotypes of women being constantly late, which in this retelling felt out of date and not needed. Stephanie Hockley was a stand out in the musical numbers due to her natural comedic ability and her nuanced overacting.
The majority of the cast put in commendable performances with the material they had been given. Vaughan plays an unassuming Santa with powerful vocals, if restricted by the limited time ‘playing’ Santa and conveying this to the audience. Particularly impressive was the Dutch sequence when playing Santa, if again rushed. Karis, who was our Susan for the evening, revels in the innocence of it all with an impressive performance for a lady of such a young age. Her vocals too were lovely, however, the character was restricted by the lack of choreography (Kevin Turner) such as standing static singing against a black back drop. She certainly is one to watch for the future as she exuded confidence on the stage with plenty of dialogue not missing a beat.
Joslin’s performance as Doris is affected by the writing, not allowing the performer to go anywhere other than being the stern, workaholic parent. Matthew Hawksley as Fred faired better, allowing the character to come to life with intricate choreography and plenty of charm. The piece would have benefited greatly from a slightly bigger cast especially during the Macy’s parade which appeared substandard and disappointing.
For a story about using imagination to revel in the wonder of Santa Claus and Christmas, Miracle On 34th Street fails to live up to the reputation of the Christmas classic.
Miracle On 34th Street runs at Home, Manchester until 31st December.
★★☆☆☆ (2*)
Gifted tickets in return for an honest review | Photography by Chris Payne
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