Croswell Opera House stages Christmas classic 'Miracle on 34th Street'
ADRIAN — One of the Christmas season’s all-time classic movies gets the stage-musical treatment when the Croswell Opera House presents “Miracle on 34th Street” for the next three weekends.
The show opens at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 18, with additional performances at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 19; 2:30 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 20; 7:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 25; 2:30 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 26; 2:30 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 27; 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 1; 2:30 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 3; and 2:30 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 4.
There is no performance on Friday, Dec. 2, which is the night of the lighting ceremony at Adrian’s Comstock Park Christmas Riverwalk.
Tickets range from $20-$40 for adults and $15-$25 for students and may be ordered online at croswell.org or by calling 517-264-7469.
The 1963 musical, adapted from the 1947 film starring Maureen O’Hara, Edmund Gwenn, John Payne and a young Natalie Wood, was the third production Meredith Willson wrote for the Broadway stage, after his best-known work “The Music Man” and then “The Unsinkable Molly Brown.” Originally titled “Here’s Love,” it ran for 334 performances.
The show tells the story of young Susan Walker and her practical-minded mother, Doris, a Macy’s manager who in a pinch hires a new Santa for the store who turns out to be the real Kris Kringle. To Susan and Doris, Santa has always been just a fairy tale — but now, events unfold that lead both of them to believe.
The plot hews pretty closely to that of the movie. But at the same time, the stage version “has more kids and more spectacle than in the movie,” according to Stephen Kiersey, who co-directs the Croswell’s production with John MacNaughton.
While it may seem unusual for a Croswell show to have two directors, Kiersey and MacNaughton — both longtime Croswell veterans — said it’s worked out well for them.
“We share so many of the same sensibilities about how things work,” MacNaughton said.
“That’s why I thought our partnership would work, because we have the same theatrical aesthetic,” Kiersey agreed. Plus, he added, each of them having the other person to bounce ideas off of helps the show.
The production stars Mark Hyre of Tecumseh as Kris Kringle — reprising his role from the Croswell’s previous production of this show in 2012 — with Cristina Pellerano of Britton as Doris and Alayna Brazzil of Holland, Ohio, as Susan. Joe Dennehy of Toledo plays Fred Gailey, the veteran-turned-lawyer who lives next door and tries to win Doris’ affection over the course of the show.
Filling out the cast in a variety of roles are Virginia Atkinson, Colbie Baer, Carsyn Benzing, Haylie Blohm, Alex Coumoundouros, Gabriel Ebeling, Brenna Gifford, Harper Goodson, Angie Heath, Libby Pifer, Conner Raymond, Mark Schersten and Carter Steude, all of Adrian; Eric Diehl and Olivia Grzebik of Clinton; Carrianne Ausmus of Manitou Beach; Peter Kentes of Milan; Ava Snyder, Lucas Snyder, Nate Snyder and Scarlett Snyder of Onsted; Taylor Goodin of Petersburg; Chris Martin of Redford Township; Adrian Stukey of Saline; Michelle Doerfler, Julia Jones, Tom Hodgman and Tracylee Odgers of Tecumseh; and Paige Burgess of Holland, Ohio.
Sabriyah Davis is the choreographer, while Wynne Marsh is the vocal director and Ray Novak is the music director.
The cast is a blend of familiar Croswell faces with some performers who are brand-new to, at least, that particular stage. Where the leads are concerned, Hyre and Dennehy have numerous Croswell shows to their names, while Pellerano and Brazzil are Croswell newcomers.
Pellerano has a wealth of other stage credits, however, and “she’s wonderful” as Doris, MacNaughton said. Kiersey used the same adjective to describe her.
“She has a wonderful stage presence and voice,” he said.
Anyone familiar with “The Music Man” will hear some stylistic similarities in the music Willson wrote for “Miracle on 34th Street.” Unlike with that earlier hit show, however, the songs he wrote specifically for this musical aren’t exactly well known. The song everyone does know, “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas,” was actually something he composed some years earlier and just stuck into his score for this show.
But just because the other songs never made the hit parade doesn’t mean they don’t work well in the show.
“I think they fit the story,” MacNaughton said, and some of them provide real vocal workouts for the singers performing them.
The directors said that in thinking about how to stage the show, one of their concepts was that it have the look of an old-fashioned Christmas card.
In fact, while the movie may be set at Christmastime and be about Santa, there’s actually relatively little that actually evokes the holiday, whereas in the musical, between songs like “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas” and the things that can be done with staging, it “is actually more ‘Christmas-y’ than the movie,” Kiersey said.
And everything that has made the film a holiday staple for so many people is in the stage version.
“It has such nice messages,” MacNaughton said. “Family, faith, kindness, the power of love.”
If you go
WHAT: “Miracle on 34th Street”
WHERE: Croswell Opera House, 129 E. Maumee St., Adrian
WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 18, 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 19; 2:30 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 20; 7:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 25; 2:30 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 26; 2:30 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 27; 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 1; 2:30 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 3; and 2:30 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 4.
TICKETS: $20-$40 for adults, $15-$25 for students
HOW TO ORDER: Online at croswell.org or by calling 517-264-7469
This article originally appeared on The Daily Telegram: Croswell Opera House stages Christmas classic 'Miracle on 34th Street'
