Here's Love

Here's Love is a musical with a book, music, and lyrics by Meredith Willson.

Here's Love
MusicMeredith Willson
LyricsMeredith Willson
BookMeredith Willson
BasisFilm Miracle on 34th Street
Productions1963 Broadway
2007 Toronto
Kathy Cody and Laurence Naismith recording the cast album for Here's Love

Based on the classic 1947 film Miracle on 34th Street, it tells the tale of a skeptical young girl who doubts the existence of Santa Claus. When the real Kris Kringle is hired inadvertently to represent jolly St. Nick in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, he must convince the child and her cynical divorced mother (the department store's special events director) that he is the genuine article.

Productions

The Broadway production, directed by Stuart Ostrow and choreographed by Michael Kidd, opened on October 3, 1963 at the Shubert Theatre, and closed on July 25, 1964 after 334 performances and 2 previews. The cast included Laurence Naismith, Janis Paige, Craig Stevens, Lisa Kirk, Fred Gwynne, Kathy Cody, Michael Bennett, and Baayork Lee. The original director, Norman Jewison, was replaced by Ostrow, the producer, during rehearsals.[1]

The Toronto Civic Light Opera Company has produced Here's Love twice, with significant musical and book revisions by artistic director, Joe Cascone. Their first production ran in December 1994, and a more elaborate staging was presented in December 2007.[2]

This show had also been titled It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas and Miracle on 34th Street: The Musical.[3][4] The song "It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas", written by Willson in 1951, is used in the musical, where it is sung in counterpoint to the newly-composed "Pine Cones and Holly Berries".[5][6]

Synopsis

Susan Walker and her mother, Doris, live alone in New York City in the 1960s. Doris works in an executive position at Macy's and, at the start of the musical, is busy organizing the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Susan meets an ex-marine named Fred Gaily, who takes it upon himself to rid her of her "realistic" outlook on life by taking her to see Santa Claus at Macy's. Kris (Santa) manages to win Susan over while love blooms between Fred and Doris. The second act sees Kris appearing in the New York Supreme Court, with Fred helping him defend his sanity. In the conclusion, Fred uses the Post Office to prove to the court (and the world) that Santa Claus does exist: Kris Kringle is he.

Original Broadway cast and characters

Song list

Broadway

References
  1. Jewison, Norman. This Terrible Business Has Been Good To Me, Macmillan (2005), ISBN 0-312-32868-0, pp.59-60
  2. "What's On: Holiday Events", thestar.com, November 22, 2007
  3. MTI listing accessed July 30, 2011
  4. "MIRACLE ON 34th STREET THE MUSICAL". Josef Weinberger Ltd. Retrieved 16 November 2014.
  5. Meredith Willson bio, greatstreets.org, accessed January 18, 2009
  6. Connema, Richard.Review, Here's Love, www.talkinbroadway.com, January 16, 2002
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