Musical Mondays #48

Welcome back to Musical Mondays!

In case you’re new here, this column is a peek into the depths of the Musical Theatre archive, where I will showcase a few musicals that I think deserve a little more love. You can read my past posts by clicking here!

They’re the smaller, niche shows that not everyone will be familiar with – and that’s the point! They deserve just as much love as the big name shows, so every second Monday I’ll list a few, give you some comparisons, and a few examples of songs for you to check out. This is our final instalment for 2021, so all our shows are holiday themed! We hope you have a lovely holiday season and new year – starting in 2022, the column will be moving to the first Monday of each month.

Here’s Love is a musical adaptation of Miracle on 34th Street, with book, lyrics, and music by Meredith Willson. The source film is often regarded as one of the greatest Christmas movies of all time, so the stage production is a wonderful experience for any fans of the movie. It follows a skeptical young girl who doesn’t believe in Santa Claus, and a department store Santa who claims to be the real deal. The original Broadway production premiered in 1963, and it hasn’t seen much stage time otherwise. There was a 2007 Toronto revival, and the show has been staged under different titles including It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas and Miracle on 34th Street: The Musical. It is a surprise to me that this show hasn’t been as successful as other ‘classic’ Christmas musicals (such as Holiday Inn and White Christmas), particularly with such famous source material. But I suppose, that’s the joy of Broadway – you never quite know what will happen with a show!

Standout track/s: Here’s Love; Expect Things to Happen; Nothing in Common