Perhaps the kindest way to start is to say that, artistically, Miracle on 34th Street is a tough sell in 2024. (And the realistic way to start is to say that this Arts Club production fails to sell it.)
Miracle on 34th Street is thin, sentimental, and painfully predictable.
Folks who know the story will probably know it because of writer and director George Seaton’s 1947 movie. This 2013 stage adaptation follows the same basic narrative, but with less success.
About predictability: an old guy, who goes by the name Kris Kringle and claims to be the real Santa Claus, gets hired by Macy’s department store to be their Christmas Santa. Doris Walker, the woman who hires him, has been bitterly disappointed by divorce and doesn’t want to believe in anything that involves hope. She has taught her young daughter Susan that Santa Claus is a fake. Kris’s goal is to convince them both that Santa Claus is real and that he is Santa. Guess how that turns out. Take your time. If you’re sitting in the theatre watching this show, you’ll have two and a half hours (including intermission).
For the most part, director Omari Newton’s production is vacant, although there are intermittent bright spots.
I’m usually a fan of Amir Ofek’s set designs, but not this time. Ofek’s all-white design is superficially pretty: it features white cutouts of New York skyscrapers in the background and a huge white cutout of a Christmas tree in front of them. As this production struggles to present the many locations required by the movie’s narrative, set pieces arrive on the revolve that circles the Christmas tree — far too laboriously.
The most damaging part of the design is that no location is ever evocatively established. There’s no sense of place or warmth. Jonathan Kim’s lightbulb-steady lighting doesn’t help.
A crucial part of a director’s job is to establish a consistent style of acting, but Newton hasn’t achieved that here. Miracle on 34th Street needs to be driven by Kris Kringle’s energy and sparkle; Kevin McNulty’s Kris is amiable but lethargic. On the other end of the scale, Julio Rod Marin plays Alfred, a Macy’s elf, with such enthusiastic exaggeration he could be auditioning for clown school.
But there are bright spots as I mentioned. Tess Degenstein is always fun to watch, and she plays three roles here with much-needed inventiveness. In Act 2, Kris is called before a judge to prove his sanity, and Degenstein is the court stenographer. She only has a couple of lines as that character but, even when she’s not speaking, the steno is so wholeheartedly invested in the proceedings — and so clearly pulling for Kris — that she’s very funny.
Nathan Kay is similarly successful, so responsive as a number of different characters, including a Macy’s manager named Shellhammer, that he’s always surprising. Ashley O’Connell (four characters) also has the commitment-to-the-absurd thing down.
The straight roles at the centre of the story are more challenging: they’re not built for spin. Nonetheless, Michelle Harrison gets some emotional traction in Act 2 when her character, the uptight Doris, finally starts to open her heart to hope.
Still, the two and a half hours of this production felt long to me. But most people in the audience gave it a standing ovation, which is almost enough to make me lose hope.
MIRACLE ON 34TH STREET Adapted by Caleb Marshall and Erin Keating from the story by Valentine Davies. Directed by Omari Newton. An Arts Club Theatre production running at the Granville Island Stage until December 29. Tickets and information
PHOTO CREDIT: Photo of Kevin McNulty and Siggi Kaldestad by Moonrider Productions
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