CHAMBERSBURG – Perhaps a miracle made its way to the unassuming small town of Chambersburg, birthed upon the Capitol Theatre stage, ushered into life by the Chambersburg Community Theatre.
Meredith Wilson’s “A Miracle on 34th Street, the Musical” proved a worthy holiday hit in a one-weekend run, Dec. 11-14. But does it present a miracle in more than title?
Let’s scrutinize the facts surrounding the case. First, the origin story:
In 1947, 20th Century Fox created an instant classic in “Miracle on 34th Street,” a film starring Natalie Wood, Maureen O’Hara, John Payne and Edmund Gwen. The film took home an armful of Oscars in the 1948 Academy Awards, with a nomination for Best Picture and three additional wins.
In 1963, the stage musical adaptation (originally titled “Here’s Love”), with book, music and lyrics by Meredith Wilson, hit Broadway, premiering at the Shubert Theatre, where it ran for 388 performances.
Wilson’s biggest claim to fame was his 1957 Broadway darling, “The Music Man,” which ran for over 1,300 performances and swept the 1958 Tonys, claiming Best Musical and four additional wins.
The film that followed, sealed Harold Hill in history, receiving six Academy Award nominations and one win.
It seems Wilson was reticent to stray too far from a good thing when he took on “Miracle.” It could be argued that he was hedging his bets on previous success, with no expectation of a miraculous undertaking.
But true miracles work in unassuming ways.
Anyone familiar with Wilson’s “The Music Man” would recognize the style of “Miracle’s” melodic strains as bearing resemblance – the marching cadence, the brassy fanfares, the duets and the quartets.
One of “Miracle’s” opening numbers, “The Big Clown Balloons/Parade,” though placed in the Thanksgiving Day spectator crowds of NYC, feels reminiscent of the townsfolk of River City. One might expect 76 trombones to come marching down the Macy’s parade route, while Pick a Little Ladies elbow their way to the front lines. “Miracle’s” “She Hadda Go Back,” borrows greatly from the style of “Music Man’s” “Ya Got Trouble.” Other iconic American showtunes, including “Oklahoma” and “Ol’ Man River,” seem to be peeking through the musical bars.
Is this the framework for ‘miracles,’ or merely borrowed and repeated material adopting an overreaching title?
Wilson is, if nothing else, convicted with the Americana spirit, with family values central to his themes, and antagonists who rail against or take advantage of the perceived naivete suckled to that bosom. And here, in the milk and honey virtues of idealism, family strength and communal goodwill, is where the prospect of a real miracle is seeded.
The CCT production, marking the third show directed by Board Vice President Aaron Trusky, seized the family spirit, including his costume designer wife, Nicole, and the rest of the Trusky brood. All poured their hearts and talents into an undertaking that would consume much of their holiday season. Son Liam served as assistant stage manager and played Miss Muffet, and Daughter Sydney performed in the ensemble in this Trusky triumph.
When asked what kind of a toll the undertaking took on the family household, Director Dad said, “We sacrificed outdoor décor this year, but we got the inside [done].”
“Sometimes I miss being on stage,” Director Trusky pines, sharing that he has been interested in theater since middle school. His family all sang in the church choir and “music was a big thing growing up.”
Now that he’s the guy leading the way, he wants his entire stage family to know how important they are to the production. “Everybody worked so well together. It just kind of clicked from the start.”
Transporting us back to a time of more conservative hemlines, Costume Designer Nicole Trusky crafted an aesthetic suggestive of the post-World War II era, in holiday hues and classic straight lines, with no frills style. This not only lent to a visually compelling production, but it also resisted upstaging through the eyes what is most meant to be felt in the heart: a central theme of love and family as the greatest gifts one can hope for.
Surely even the potential of a miracle deserves heralding fanfare, and in this case, Music Director Jessica Bewley assumed that angelic position as conductor of a sparkling to robust pit orchestra, including Lora Hammersla, Chris Pearlberg, Spencer Kendall, Marcus Rauhut, Kari Pennington, Galen Work, Emily Ellmore, and Maria Delaney. The brass, fanciful flautist, and percussive march captured Wilson’s tone to perfection, a style that deviates enough from the norm to shake the audience out of their ordinary rhythms.
Fun family trivia: Jessica Bewley is also married to Santa Claus, ahem, Kris Kringle, as played by John Bewley.
AimeeBeth Davis, CCT board president, played Doris Walker, a divorcee and single mother to Susan Walker, played by Brailyn Tillman. Doris, disappointed in love and hard working as the family breadwinner, gruels away as Macy’s parade and special events coordinator. The challenging realities of the day-to-day in the Walker household make realists of Doris and Susan, with little room to entertain fantasy and fairytale in their world of practicality.
AimeeBeth Davis as Doris and Brailyn Tillman as Susan, a survivalist duo
The two play well together in mirrored traits and an interplay of sympathy and empathy protected by a thick outer shell, which makes the internal cracks and fight for composure and strength to withstand disappointment and fear all the more heart-wrenching.
The mother-daughter pair are the hinge pins of the tale, along with Luke Lyman, who played a sensitive, handsome and likeable Fred Gaily, intrigued by love, but fearful of commitment. He is neighbor to the Walkers and attempts to charm his way into Doris’ hardened heart via her daughter, with whom he identifies a need to realize the imaginative world of childhood.
Luke Lyman as Fred Gailey tries to engage Susan’s wonder
Attempts to engage Susan’s mature perspectives in fantastical wonder fall flat beneath her realism and skepticism.
Fred seems attracted to winning hard cases. Any attempts to spark chemistry with Doris are met with rude reticence, making her seem more ripped from the pages of “Taming of the Shrew” than any traditional love story, and even she concedes that men are inclined to call her a “witch, not a dish.” Doris is dismissive of Susan’s curiosities about Gaily, suggesting that he’s “a familiar prototype, and he’s on the move for your mother.”
John Bewley is genuine and warm as Kris Kringle. His performance is so earnest, he effectively wins the audience’s will to protect him and all his magic from the crude unkindness of a commercial and ego-driven world.
Bewley as Kringle
Kringle greases the pins for the rusted hinges of a miracle to open, but his task is not light. The senior faces challenges of his own. A hospital resident after sustaining head injuries, Kringle’s sanity is questioned, and he’s labeled as possessing “delusional thinking” for his insistence that he is Santa Claus.
How is the miracle meter tracking? Speculation of the veracity of his identity puts Kringle in line with the challenges of other miraculous figures of the season.
The projected production design of Brandon Tillman
Set Designer Brandon Tillman did a phenomenal job of utilizing projected backdrops to march the parade route right across the stage. Vintage balloons of majestic size loomed over the crowds. This budget-friendly design supported quick effective scene changes with minimal effort and zero threat of deflation.
Brandon Tillman (left) makes an impact both onstage and off with cast support
In addition to his visual design prowess, Brandon Tillman was also the production photographer and he appeared onstage, playing the roles of Alvin and Policeman. The talented Tillman family of magic builders also includes Tillman’s wife, Stage Manager Lilly Tillman, and daughter Brailyn, starring as Susan.
Back to the crunch on Kringle.
Though not perceived as posing a risk to himself or others, plans are underway to relocate Kringle to a sanatorium, to which he indignantly responds, “the rubber room, huh?” Without financial assets, he faces limited options.
When the two-bit Macy’s Santa, played by Bruce Kloster (who will show his range to play everything from the slums of NYC to its elite), turns up inebriated and unable to perform on parade morning, Kringle steps up to correct the appearance of the King of Christmas, a position that advances him to the throne of Macy’s Santa’s Toy Land, hired by Susan for “two dollars an hour and all the cotton candy you can eat.”
Kris Kringle in the Macy’s March
Choreographer and CCT Board Member Courtney Burkholder kept the tale on its toes, creating the stepping style for everyone from the Rockettes, a majorette, storybook characters and the citizens and tourists of NYC. She additionally appeared as Clara. More family ties are assumed with Michael Burkholder, credited as Harry Finfer, and Mya Burkholder as Majorette, punctuating the parade with her twirling. All three Burkholders played in the ensemble.
Choreographer Courtney Burkholder kept the cast on point
Nico VanArsdale brings well-turned comedy to the role of Marvin Shellhammer, Doris’ executive assistant at Macy’s. Shellhammer made the mistake of accidentally ordering 7,000 plastic alligators, an error he attempts to correct throughout the show with marketing spins, replete with ad campaign jingles, because, “You can claim anything if you can sing it.”
Kringle makes many allusions to his identity, but this is no Santa with a sack full of fanciful wrapped trappings. He kindly directs parents to find the commercial wish list items for themselves, directing them to the best prices and available inventory, even at competitor locations, honoring his mantra,
“Christmas is the one time that should be devoted to what we avoid the rest of the year: peace, goodwill and helping others.”
Susan tests Santa’s whiskers, impressed
Fred takes Susan to visit Santa. Kringle’s soft inspired demeanor, real whiskers and patience to withstand scrutiny, start to thaw the girl’s icy exterior. Though possessing his own rough edges, Fred affords the prevailing sentiment,
“Faith is believing things when common sense tells you not to.”
Kringle’s case as Santa is mounting, including his unique ability to greet Henrika, a Dutch girl played by Lennon Vincenti. Kringle leads a carol in Henrika’s native tongue, resulting in a heartfelt duet, during which Vincenti captures the relief of that moment of recognition and belonging in a foreign land.
Susan contends that she knows Kringle can’t be the real Santa, because her mother hired him. Undaunted, Kringle sings “In Love,” suggesting that everyone should be in love, including Macy’s and Gimbels and dogs and cats.
If only he can make this happen, his miracle status would be sealed.
Skeptical Susan is not above yearning
With her father out of the picture, a casualty of divorce, Susan goes so far as to ask Fred to be her father. His feet turn cold, professing his confirmed bachelorhood, but he assumes the honorary position, just for this one celebratory evening.
Meanwhile, Kringle’s direction of consumers to competitors’ stores draws the concern of R.H. Macy himself, played by Don Aines. Aines has a voice for radio from another era: commanding, yet warm-toned, creating a compelling persona for mogul Macy, who is not pleased with Kringle’s publicity for the competition.
Director Trusky said Aines was an instantaneous casting selection as R.H. Macy. The voice. The presence. “I don’t think he’s done a show since ‘Oklahoma’ in 2017,” Trusky said, welcoming his return.
Doris turns threat into promise, capitalizing on Kringle’s unintentional rebranding of Macy’s, suggesting that positioning themselves as the store that puts public service ahead of profits, will result in consumers flocking in droves to a brand they can trust.
The plan works. Kringle’s career is secured with a lifetime contract. Mr. Macy is content. What could go wrong?
Doris addresses Fred taking Susan to visit Santa and expresses her disapproval for filling a girl’s head with fairy tales, fearful it may cause her to grow up in fantasy rather than reality. She further reveals her distrust of men, explaining that Susan’s father walked out on them on Christmas, the day she was born. She wants Susan to be spared the suffering brought on by men. For this reason, she tells Fred to stay away from her.
Fred assures Doris that he has just passed the bar after three attempts and has no intentions of settling down. He would rather focus on his career. He puts the strong-willed woman in her place, calling her “little girl,” but then kisses her, making the evening end in confusion for both.
Stepping into a story set in a bygone era can have its challenges. For starters, there’s the freedom with which Fred engages his young female neighbor, including taking her to events without her mother’s permission. Add to that that Fred insults Doris by calling her “little girl” and then forcibly kisses her. She’s later referenced as a “dame” amongst Fred’s marine cronies. The idea that she should somehow cave to his ‘charms’ seems condoning of misogyny by contemporary standards, further celebrated with catchy tunes. Let the true celebration be the ability to reflect on societal growth.
The smooth sailing in Toy Land is thwarted when Kringle is diverted to Mr. Sawyer, Macy’s psychologist, for psychological evaluation. Erin Cohan played a ruthless Sawyer with unrelenting judgment, unleashing pent up unhappiness with impossible rigidity set to incriminate Kringle as mentally unstable, possessing “latent maniacal tendencies,” advising that he should be committed as soon as possible.
When Sawyer’s secretary, Miss Crookshanks (Elaina Dodge) says Kringle got all the answers right, Sawyer fires her. Kringle demands that Sawyer retract the firing, but Sawyer refuses and fakes being the victim of an attack at the hands of Kringle.
Is the miracle buff tarnishing?
That night, Susan visits Santa and he educates her about a very important nation – the imagination. Susan slips into a fantasy collision of fairy tale and storybook characters.
Susan’s fantasy sequence
Sound design of bells and strikes on the violin mark the transition into the world of Susan’s mind, coupled with Ryan Edward’s light design, capturing the ethereal quality of the imaginative escape in bright primary colors and smoky lavender hues.
N. Trusky’s costume design stays true to the uncomplicated lines of the rest of the show – utilizing just enough to convey each character, without overdoing the details, allowing imagination to fill in where flourishes stay sparse.
The slender elegance of the Scarecrow was particularly breathtaking – in both costume and performance. A fringed hay collar, shirt and pant cuffs, and a couple pieces of twine for a belt and hat band, took the simple to sublime.
All of the dream actors were spellbinding in their interpretive ballet, giving Susan a gift in mind and tickling her playful spirit. Santa, her mother, and Fred are incorporate in the fantasy as loving onlookers, central to Susan’s longing.
Are dreams meant only to sleep?
Susan’s wishes are not for gifts that can be procured and wrapped. Her version of fairy tale includes a present father figure and a complete family.
Kringle breaks the spell, returning Susan’s consciousness to the Macy’s showroom.
An assortment of bigwigs and the press gather to celebrate Kringle’s lifetime contract: Mr. Macy; the Governor of NY, played by Jessica Tolbert; the Mayor of NYC, played by Bruce Kloster; and Mr. Gimbel, played by Chris Miller, who manages to capture in quick time both the competitive edge and softening of an iconic character. His effective expression is punctuated with, “I’ve just crossed the street for the first time in 39 years!”
The celebration is brought to abrupt halt when the police arrive to take Kringle to Bellevue based on Sawyer’s recommendation.
Doris reasons with Kringle. All he needs to do is say he isn’t Santa. He stays resolute in his identity. Even Susan finally challenges her mother, siding with Kringle to uphold who he is.
Kringle, rehomed in Bellevue, is visited by Susan, who tells him not to stop believing in himself. She shares a picture that Fred gave her of his upstate farmhouse with a swing and a cow. She tells Kringle that, if he’s really Santa, he’ll get her what she really wants for Christmas — the swing and the cow.
That night Fred is playing poker with his Marine buddies and tells them they must go because a dame is expected, and he suggests that he knows just when she’ll arrive, implying that he has come to know Susan and her comings and goings like military time.
Elaina Dodge makes a nice play in her turn as a Girl Scout who foils Fred’s timing in a comedic beat on her rounds selling cookies.
And now Kringle must face the law in court. At Doris’ bidding, Fred steps up in his very first case as an attorney, to represent the potential Mr. Claus as he goes before the judge.
Luke Lyman as Fred Gaily, attorney at law
The bigwigs show up in defense of Kringle. To reveal the courtroom turnings and story’s end would be to plot spoil the best turns this tale has to offer. If you are amongst the few who have not experienced the “Miracle” for yourself, the film will have to make do for this season, until a future splendid stage retelling comes to town.
R.H. Macy comes to testify
What will the judge rule and why? Is the evidence for Santa compelling enough to win favor in judicial ruling?
Chris Miller presided over the courtroom as Judge Martin
Will Susan’s wish be granted? What is the fate of Kringle? And finally, is any of it really a miracle?
The family dream
What can be certain is the beauty and worthiness of the dream of a united family, a theme especially prominent in hearts over the holidays, in both fulfillment and longing.
The desire of family and individuals to form temporary stage families and give of their talents and imaginations to produce magic for others are some of the finest gifts that will ever be crafted. Director Trusky aimed to make this big city story capture small town charm, and he succeeded with the support of his very talented cast and crew.
An assortment of cameo roles and ensemble are played with commitment to every exquisite choice and detail by Emma Williams, Gwenavyr Foreman, Nora Boward, Kensi Sites, Kaylyn Castle, Jessica Tolbert, Bruce Kloster, Chris Miller, Landry Matthews, Rosalie Cohan, Maxwil Hanks, Lennon Vincenti, Amanda Cook, Dr. Tom VanArsdale, Sarah Boward, Jess Shelleman, Gavyn Stewart, and Elaina Dodge.
Sound Design by Chance Reecher manages to adeptly balance the full range from tenderly nuanced dialogue to the marching band brass of the orchestra.
Lighting Design by Ryan Edwards has the effect of pulling focus to the vibrant heart of each scene, with the edges falling off into darkness, almost like a picture frame border. He is supported by the finesse of Lighting Tech Jenn Davis.
Behind the scenes credit is due to Assistant Costumer Olivia Snowberger and Tyler Burkholder for set construction. Production Assistant Jenn Neuschafer and Stage Crew David Neuschafer bring double meaning to tech family. Additional stage crew included Sam Musgave and Preslee McKenrick.
Will Santa prevail?
Long before Susan tugged on Kris Kringle’s beard, the case for Santa was great media fodder, including the 1897 editorial by Francis Pharcellus Church, published in the New York newspaper, “The Sun,” which confirms for the questioning child that Santa is indeed real:
“Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy.”
Church concludes, “Thank God! He lives, and he lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay, ten times ten thousand years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.”
Is the spirit of Santa alive and well and miraculous as an enduring symbol of humankind’s will to love and create magic for others?
I believe.
Photo Credit: Brandon Tillman
