It Shouldn't Happen To Santa Claus

Here's Love. It shouldn't happen to Macy's. It shouldn't happen to Gimbels. And it certainly shouldn't happen to Santa Claus. The sorry, dispiriting news is that Meredith Willson has temporarily lost his Music Man bounce, and Here's Love has all the festive gaiety of a lead balloon.

Willson has borrowed the book for his musical from a whimsical little cream puff of a 1947 movie called Miracle on 34th Street. Stuck with an inebriated Santa, Macy's unwittingly hires the real Kris Kringle to handle the reins as Donder, Blitzen, et al., mush through the big Thanksgiving Day parade. Kris (Laurence Naismith) stays on for the holiday rush and he is a loving wonder at dandling the kids on his knee. There are minor complications, of course, like St. Nick's spending a day or two in the mental ward at Bellevue until his credentials

can be honored in court.

If the main plot is arch, the subplot is fallen-arch. A coolheaded, busy, busy, busy Macy executive (Janis Paige) has been burned on the matrimonial altar and has sworn off men. Her next-door neighbor is an ex-marine (Craig Stevens) who has sworn off women in favor of his true love, the law. Fortunately, Divorcee Paige has a little daughter, an agnostic city tot who does not believe in Santa Claus. Lawyer Stevens undertakes to cure her unbelief. Does anyone hear those jingle bells turning into wedding bells?

This sentimental pap would not be so hard to swallow if it were sprinkled with a few laughs or spiced with a tingling score. But 17 of the show's 21 scenes are over before a number comes alive that really rocks the house--That man over there is Santa Claus, I know! I know! I know! Choreographer Michael Kidd reels off a twinkle-toed, rainbow-colored Macy's parade, and a fanciful sugarplum birthday party in the toy department, but it isn't enough to save the evening.

Decked out in a Monty Woolley beard, Naismith makes a capital Santa, and Janis Paige is a delectable if ungay divorcee. Stevens, in a lackluster Broadway debut, seems to be one of those staglets whose careers consist of looking vaguely like Gary Grant. The cast's efforts may not be totally in vain. As one departing first-nighter put it: "Well, at least it's a reminder to do Christmas shopping early this year."

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