Playhouse audience loves ‘Miracle on 34th Street’

Playhouse audience loves ‘Miracle on 34th Street’

By MILAN PAURICH

Vindicator Correspondent

The Festivus revelers were out in full force Friday night for the opening performance of “Miracle on 34th Street” at the Youngstown Playhouse.

Not even the evening’s subfreezing weather could dissuade the faithful from turning out en masse for a little preholiday cheer. And everyone seemed to be in a giving mood if the thunderous applause which greeted cast and crew during the curtain call were any indication.

Of all the classic (and not-so-classic) films transferred to the stage in recent decades, the 1947 yuletide perennial “Miracle on 34th Street” hardly seems the most likely of candidates to receive the screen-to-proscenium-arch treatment.

For starters, the movie’s big set pieces and locations — Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade; the interior of Macy’s Department Store; a bustling Herald Square — are pretty difficult to simulate on even the grandest of stages.

Plus, its charmingly retro themes (believing in Santa Claus among them) risk seeming less quaint than merely antiquated in these supremely cynical times.

Adapted by Will Severin, Patricia Di Benedetto Snyder and John Vreeke from Valentine Davies’ novel but mostly, it seems, from repeated viewings of the original film — a theatrical “Miracle on 34th Street” has several additional strikes against it.

The show’s rapid-fire succession of the briefest of scenes, most involving large groups of actors (many of whom are small children), require the talents of a traffic cop and construction crew more than a director.

Additionally, there’s the overarching “familiarity factor” to consider. Since everyone knows the story and characters by heart, there’s precious little to surprise or excite you.

Its message of “Faith is believing in things when common sense tells you not to,” almost sounds like a sucker bet in this harsh economic climate. If any production of “Miracle” essentially preaches to the choir, Marlene Menaldi Strollo’s Playhouse version seems to implicitly understand that. Heck, Strollo even supplies an actual choir for the closing scene to remind us of all that is good and holy about the Christmas season.

Far be it from me to bah humbug such a well-meaning, all-ages-friendly divertissement, but Strollo and company never quite drag themselves out of the quagmire that is “34th Street: The Play.” The incessant scenery changes — at times, it seems as if they take longer than the actual scenes — grow a tad wearying even before the first act is over.

Not helping finesse the book’s creakiness is the difficulty some cast members seem to have getting into the whole vintage flavor of the piece.

Dialogue that seemed to trip off the tongues of Maureen O’Hara, Edmund Gwenn and Natalie Wood comes across as a trifle stilted and artificial-sounding when spoken by less-trained modern actors.

Playhouse newcomer Andrea Cicoretti who plays single mom/Macy’s employee Doris Walker comes across as too contemporary by half. You almost expect to see Cicoretti behind the wheel of an SUV, jabbering on her cell phone and cutting you off in traffic.

Carl Brockway (Fred Gailey, Kris Kringle’s lawyer/Doris’ romantic interest) is equally problematic. Brockway could have stepped out of Central Perk on “Friends” but seems kind of misplaced in 1940’s-era Manhattan. Even the gifted Tim McGinley has a hard time making us believe that HE believes he’s Kris Kringle.

As precocious young Susan, St. Charles student Lauren Cline fares best among the lead performers. She was the only one who really felt period-appropriate to me.

Yet, even with all of its flaws — many of which are built into the material — there’s still plenty to admire and enjoy about this particular “Miracle.”

The show boasts typically handsome Playhouse sets; Cherie Stebner’s costume design is dependably superb; and tech directors Jim Lybarger and John Pecano clearly busted their humps behind the scenes on such a logistically complicated production.

I also liked several of the supporting performances, notably Gary Deckant (aces as Judge Harper); St. Christine’s third- grader Dominic Campana; and Regina Reynolds. Best of all is audience favorite John Cox, who turns the villainous Mr. Sawyer (the Macy’s apparatchik responsible for all of Kris Kringle’s headaches) into the play’s one undisputed scene-stealer.

Cox gives a wildly stylized comic performance — replete with manic facial tics — that’s as hugely funny as it is welcome. (He even manages to get a laugh out of his pronunciation of “delusion.”)

It’s that type of go-for-broke inventiveness the show could have used a lot more of. Though it might not qualify as a “Miracle on Playhouse Lane,” Cox’s Scrooge-like Sawyer does provide beaucoup tidings of comfort and joy.

X“Miracle on 34th Street” runs through next Sunday at the Youngstown Playhouse. For tickets or additional information, call (330) 788-8739.