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"Miracle on 34th Street" at Theatre Bristol

December 09, 2013

Theatre Bristol will bring a “Miracle” to downtown Bristol this holiday season, a “Miracle on 34th Street”! The holiday family favorite will be performing on December 13, 14, 15 — Friday and Saturday evening performances begin at 7:30, the Sunday matinee begins at 2:30. Adult tickets are $12.00. Senior (60+), student and children’s tickets are $10.00. For more information please visit our website www.theatrebristol.org or visit our Facebook page. Call 423-383-5979 for information or tickets.

“Miracle on 34th Street” is a tale that we want to believe in, that creates a world we seem to desperately desire, free of the blatant commercialism that surrounds us, where love and decency and generosity of spirit are their own rewards. What we want Christmas to be all about, really," so writes the Santa Cruz Sentinel of this most heartwarming holiday story. By chance, Kris Kringle, an old man in a retirement home, gets a job working as Santa for Macy's. Kris unleashes waves of good will with Macy's customers and the commercial world of New York City by referring parents to other stores to find exactly the toy their child has asked for. Seen as deluded and dangerous by Macy's vocational counselor, who plots to have Kris shanghaied to Bellevue Psychiatric Hospital, Kris ends up in a court competency hearing. Especially at stake is one little girl's belief in Santa. In a dramatic decision, the court confirms Kris as the true Santa, allowing Susan and countless other children to experience the joy of childhood fantasy.

Directing the cast of thirty is regionally respected director and longtime Theatre Bristol collaborator, Glenn Patterson. The cast features a nice mix of Theatre Bristol veterans and new comers. Kris, or Santa, is played by John Runde. The role of Susan, the seven-year-old girl who learns to believe, is dual cast with Lauren Turner and Audrey Chapman. Her mother, the skeptical and guarded Doris Walker, is played by Meaghan Gray. Michael Gerber is in the role of optimistic attorney Fred Galey. The rest of the cast includes: SaBrina King, Steve Basket, Michael Lester, Lindsay Marshall, Lily Osborne, Ginny Osborne, Daniel Osborne, Miriam Price, Lilly Price, Ian Price, Cassidy Brunson, Haley Brunson, Molly Johnson, Grace Johnson, Abigail Hill, Lacey Williams, Jacob Alvis, Torey Walk, Ethan Riffey, Rori Simmons, Iona Blackburn, Eliza McClellan, Daniel Freeman, Carson Musick and Mike Musick.

The classic holiday story was first brought to the silver screen by Twentieth Century Fox in 1947 from the story by Valentine Davies, and starred a young Natalie Wood as Susan Walker, Maureen O’Hara as her mother Doris and Edmund Gwenn as Kris Kringle. The 1994 remake starred Dylan McDermott, Elizabeth Perkins and Sir Richard Attenborough. Theatre Bristol will be performing the stage version that is based on the classic and adapted by Mountain Community Theatre.