“Miracle on 34th Street: The Musical" at the Circa '21 Dinner Playhouse -- November 6 through December 29.
Wednesday, November 6, through Sunday, December 29
Circa '21 Dinner Playhouse, 1828 Third Avenue, Rock Island IL
Delivering what the Denver Post called “a sleighful of gifts” including “a minuet of the familiar and the special” and a “gentle, genial advocacy of the impossible,” the holiday spectacular Miracle on 34th Street: The Musical enjoys a November 6 through December 29 return to Rock Island's Circa '21 Dinner Playhouse, this delightful adaptation of the beloved movie classic boasting music and lyrics by The Music Man creator Meredith Willson.
As in the iconic 1947 movie, the musical stage version of Miracle on 34th Street finds sensible single mother Doris Walker not wanting her six-year-old Susan's head filled with romantic notions. Such notions, however, are exactly what are on the mind of neighbor Fred Gailey as he tries to woo Doris by charming Susan and taking her to see Santa Claus at Macy's, the Manhattan department store in which Doris works. At first, practical-minded Doris is not impressed. But when she begins to think that this Macy's Santa may, in fact, be the real Kris Kringle, a wave of love spreads across New York City that begins to melt even the most cynical of hearts. Filled with humor, spectacle, and such touching songs as “Pine Cones and Holly Berries,” “My State, My Kansas,” and the timeless seasonal tune “It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas,” this joyous, heartwarming musical is pure family entertainment by legendary composer and lyricist Willson, whose follow-up to The Music Man debuted on Broadway in the fall of 1963. The show finally closed after nearly a year and 334 performances, and continues to enchant audiences both new to its story and well-familiar with the film classic starring Natalie Wood, Maureen O'Hara, and the Oscar-winning Edmund Gwenn.
Directing Circa '21's first presentation in the venue's 2024-25 season is venue veteran Corinne Johnson, the former St. Ambrose University theatre professor who most recently helmed the theatre's winter production of Murder on the Orient Express, and whose additional credits for the Rock Island dinner theatre have included directing Disenchanted! and Don't Dress for Dinner. Circa '21 owner Dennis Hitchcock serves as the show's producer, with additional members of Johnson's creative team including: choreographer Shelley Cooper; music director Ron May; production manager Jeremy Littlejohn; stage manager Kendall McKasson; technical director Richard Baker; set designer Susie Holgersson; costume designer Bradley Robert Jensen; lighting designer Heather Hauskins; sound designer Dylan Dutro; assistant stage manager and deck captain Emmett Boedeker; and scenic artist Becky Meissen.
Kris Kringle is portrayed by John Payonk, who also played the jolly old elf in Circa '21's 2012 presentation of Miracle on 34th Street, while Doris, Fred, and Susan are respectively played by Sarah Hayes, Kyle DeFauw, and, in alternating performances, Isabelle Minteer and Charlotte Ruth. Meanwhile, no fewer than 16 stage talents complete the musical's ensemble: Mitchell Burchett; Adam Cerny; Noah Johnson; Sophia Kilburg; A.C. Lam; Kiera Lynn; Arianna Marshall; Michael Metcalf; Paul Gregory Nelson; Samuel Sommer; Savannah Bay Strandin; Tristan Layne Tapscott; Shelley Walljasper; BeccaWorthington; Edith Young; and Fulton Young.
In addition to its 7:30 p.m. public previews on November 6 and 7, Miracle on 34th Street; The Musical runs in Rock Island from November 8 through December 29 with performances on Fridays, Saturdays, and Wednesdays at 7:30 p.m.; Sundays at 5:30 p.m.; and Wednesday afternoons at 1:15 p.m. All shows will be preceded by meals and pre-show entertainment by the theatre's performing wait staff of Circa '21 Bootleggers, and more information and tickets are available by calling (309)786-7733 extension 2 and visiting Circa21.com.
