The Bradley Playhouse in Putnam put on a good, old-fashioned production of Valentine Davies’ Miracle on 34th Street. Adapted by Mountain Community Theater, Bradley’s production is a call back to Christmastimes of decades ago, following Kris Kringle (Preston Arnold) on his humorous but heartwarming journey to prove to the world that he is, in fact, Santa Claus.
Kringle has somehow landed in New York City, taking up a job as a department-store Santa at Macy’s and staying nights with his manager, Doris Walker (Laurie Neal), her six-year-old daughter Susan (Eva Ferreira) and sometimes their neighbor, the attorney Fred Gayley (Nick Hemeon). After unwittingly being tricked into admittance into a mental health facility for identifying as Santa Claus, Kringle teams up with Gayley and goes to court to prove to the state of New York — and the world at large — that he is Santa and can therefore be discharged.
Arnold plays the part as well as he looks it, with his bushy, white beard and somewhat jolly build. He portrays Kringle as self-assured and kind, having no doubt that his mission is to serve the world’s children and families by bringing them Christmas cheer.
It is never made clear how he ended up in New York City. However, through his actions — buying an x-ray machine for his friend Dr. Pierce (Amy Stoelzel), instilling belief in the magic of Christmas in the prematurely jaded Susan, and bringing her Christmas wish of having a house and a father to fruition — Arnold’s Kringle leaves no doubt that if there is a Santa Claus, it’s him.
The acting in the play brings the complications of each supporting character to the forefront. Doris Walker (Laurie Neal) is the play’s greatest example of human complexity, as Neal initially portrays Walker as a tough cookie who is professional to the point of being stuffy and cold.
However, as the play progresses, the reasons for this — among them, a failed marriage and lost faith in love — become clear, and amid her budding romance with Fred and friendship with Kris, Neal presents Walker’s almost childlike wonderment at the joys of life. Neal also shows Walker’s fiery devotion as a mother to Susan and introduces the human element of regret several times, namely when she lets Kris be admitted into a mental health facility at the hands of unhinged psychologist Sawyer (Caleb Hanley).
Russell S. Fish (Bloomingdale, Judge Harper) is the play’s most versatile actor, playing each of his roles with equal vigor. Fish’s Bloomingdale is comically obnoxious, using the publicity event at which he and Macy (Roy Simmons) commend Kringle for his unintentional service to both stores as a blatant ploy to attract customers to his store. This is the first of several examples of Fish using facial expressions to draw laughs; each time he says “Bloomingdale’s,” he pauses before the word and draws it out, opening his eyes as wide as golf balls and craning his neck toward the audience.
As Judge Harper, Fish often has his head in his hands, conflicted between his service to his office and his bid to get re-elected to a political position. He does not hide his stress during Kringle’s trial, snapping at Mara (David Lindsay) with humorous panic, and by the time he shouts his verdict, he sounds so spent that laughter ensues. Highlighting the true nature of his character, Fish shows Harper to be an honest man, issuing a legal verdict to the strongest of his ability.
Like Sawyer and Harper, Shellhammer (Wladimir Petruniw), Kris’s supervisor, is ironically frantic, fretting over the finest details of his job despite his presumable decades of experience.
Constructed more than a century ago, Bradley is the ideal theater for a throwback Christmas play such as this. The scenery (Jeremy Woloski, Diana Lee, Maria Bessette, Amanda Bessette, Sandy Lazarou, Jasmine Gervais, Bonnie Theriault, Melinda Collelo, Wladimir Petruniw, Christine Crugnole Petruniw) is an attractive backdrop for each scene from a mid-20th century December in New York City. Yet, it is understated in a way that leaves plenty of room on the stage for the actors to paint the picture.
Like the set, the direction (Madeline Jaaskela, Jeremy Woloski) stays in its lane. Scene changes are simple, and humor is injected throughout — for example, Santa’s Elves (David Abbamonte, Casey Stoelzel, Delaney O’Grady, Adelaide Beams) give a comedic performance of “The Twelve Days of Christmas,” from the song’s ever-increasing tempo to their frog-like motions as they sing the words, “ten lords a-leaping.”
The Bradley Playhouse will present Miracle on 34th Street through Dec. 22. Click here for the program.
