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One of the most interesting aspects of Miracle on 34th Street, now playing at Spirit Square, is how it lovingly wraps the commercialism it critiques in its warm, beefy embrace. Our good Kris Kringle would have been tossed out onto the street by Macy's for directing Christmas-shopping parents to rival Gimbel's if it hadn't been for the unexpected positive PR that Kris's honesty brought to his employer. Not to mention the avalanche of positive customer feedback and the boost in retail sales.
When Kris stands trial, it's the materialistic Christmas wishes of children across the nation, the overblown coverage of the press corps, and the eagerness of US government postal workers to liquidate excess inventory that combine to create Kris's miraculous validation as Santa Claus. You could hardly ask for a heartier affirmation of greed and self-interest.
Children's Theatre does a beautiful job emphasizing the spectacle. Jim Gloster, who has probably mastered the design challenges of McGlohon Theatre better than anyone, provides a superbly upbeat, urban, and versatile set. Director Jill Bloede assembles a high-energy cast, including some welcome new adult and child performers, and gets more comedy out of the script than any Miracle you'll ever rent. Still, the normally resourceful CT doyenne needs to tidy up some of the scene changes to take better advantage of Gloster's smooth-shifting set pieces.
Wonderfully warm and wise, Dennis Delamar has Kris beautifully measured. Even where the script surgery has been too radical, rushing Kris to the Belleview asylum where he fails his psychological exams in a fit of despair, Delamar's despondency meshes well with the powerful scene at Macy's that precedes it.
Charlotte Parrott is adorable as skeptical Susan Walker, the tot who gives Santa his tallest order. She has a terrific rapport with Delamar and with Joanna Gerdy, who plays Susan's faith-challenged mom. Madeline Jurch turns in a smashing debut, entering the courtroom as the DA's daughter and stealing a scene. Three infectiously comical elves -- John Cahill, Katie Goforth, and Janae Moore -- also take their turns upstaging Santa and the adults.
Best comic licks among the adults were delivered by Alan Poindexter as Macy's neurotic vocational guidance counselor, sputtering with spite. Peter Smeal lends his considerable girth to the Drunken Santa in a crowd pleasing cameo, then returns as Mr. Gimble to spread more tainted Christmas cheer opposite Aaron Moore's opportunistic R.H. Macy.
Mark Sutton is Fred Gayley, the intrepid lawyer who strives to prove Kris's Santahood and win Susan's mom over to romance. Carl McIntyre as the DA and Charles LaBorde as the judge deftly play up their presumption that Kris's trial will be an open-and-shut case -- and their astonishment when it isn't.
Want a less sentimental take on a Christmas evergreen? The new CT Miracle is the ticket. Never fear, plenty of the old sap still remains to touch your heart.
Every time I see The Last Night of Ballyhoo, playwright Alfred Uhry's warm, salty humor comes through beautifully. Counting the new Charlotte Rep edition that I saw at Booth Playhouse last Saturday, I've now seen this Southern-fried Jewish comedy three times: once on Broadway in 1997, the year it opened and won the Tony Award, and twice here at the PAC.
The Rep's recipe for bringing out the Southern flavor of Uhry's comedy seems to work better than Broadway's. Under company founder Steve Umberger's direction, Rep first brought Ballyhoo to the Booth in the fall of 1998. Now as part of their 25th anniversary celebration, Rep is bringing back this popular audience fave a bit closer to the Christmas season, where most of the action takes place. Umberger's back at the helm with six of the seven members of his original cast and a subtly improved version of Jim Gloster's award-winning set.
You still don't have to be Jewish to savor the absurdity of Lala Levy, the would-be Scarlett O'Goldberg of Atlanta, and her outrageous beau, the flame-haired Peachy Weil, coming all the way from Lake Charles for the famed Ballyhoo ball. In fact, I'd say Rep's Ballyhoo 2 is funnier than ever. Kacey Camp and Josh Gaffga both turn up their laughably irritating energy by at least a notch, making the red-headed couple an even more outre match.
Mary Lucy Bivins has sharpened her deadly comic delivery as Boo, Lala's long-suffering and insufferable mama. Michael Edwards is no less lethal as Adolph Freitag, the generous soul who somehow endures both nutty Levys in his household.
The unmistakable undercurrent here is the prejudicial contempt of German Jews toward the "other kind" who come to America from further east in Europe. Doubly ironic in 1939 Dixie when Hitler is beginning to implement his Final Solution.