Here's Love (1963)

[fashionguru_23]

I heard about this show and am interested in finding the cast album. Can anyone help?
Also, does anybody know anything about this show?

[Mr Roxy]

One of the first shows I saw. I believe Michael Bennett was one of. the dancers. It was a musical of "Miracle on 34 TH St". It starred Craig (Peter Gunn Stevens and Janis Paige.In the cast was than unknown Fred Gwynne. Music was Meredeth Wilson. One song not on the cast album was "The Plastic Alligator".It was a good but not a great show.

[Auggie27]

What always intrigues me is the fact that an almost classic holiday pop song was jukebox-ed into the score by Willson, "It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas." The number wasn't written for the show (but was by Willson), but was added at its outset (yes?). One of the biggest problems of adapting this film, as opposed to say, CHRISTMAS STORY, is the structural nature of the source material. A whole second act about a court case against Santa, especially a department store edition, isn't very dramatic as a musical libretto. Whereas CHRISTMAS STORY builds to a Christmas morning, with domestic scenes in service of the ultimate reveal(s) re the critical air rifle, HERE'S LOVE is too divided up in focus, the mother-daughter cris, the Santa arc, the romance. It's musical fodder, but the center isn't strong enough perhaps. The show closest in feel: another near-miss BIG.

[darquegk]

Also, if I recall the anecdote, the creative team didn't want to cash in/sell out by naming the work "Miracle on 34th Street," thinking that the Meredith Wilson pedigree was enough. It wasn't, and the lack of name recognition eventually led to the work being licensed in regionals as "Miracle on 34th Street," similar to the way "A Wonderful Life" eventually caved and became "It's A Wonderful Life: The Musical."

[CurtainPullDowner]

As a teen I played the opening number BIG CLOWN BALOONS over and over, it was great to dance to in the living room.

I loved that IT'S BEGINNING TO.... was included and counter melodied with PINE CONES AND HOLY BERRIES. It's a charming number.
Fred Gwynne had some stage exposure, he was also in IRMA LA DOUCE.

[JohnyBroadway]

MTI is now officially marketing it as Miracle as 34th street the musical.

[After Eight]

I don't like when they change the titles of shows. The show was Here's Love, and that's what it should be called.

As for Here's Love itself, yes, the trial scene was a trial, and the score has its clunkers. Yet it offered enjoyment as well, and I too like The Big Clown Balloons, as well as the title song (that is, the real title).

[tazber]

The cast recording is available on amazon as an MP3. There are also a few hard copies for sale for around $17.00.

[Auggie27]

Agreed that "Clown Balloons" and the title song are infectious, the sort of songs Willson was famous for.

[Gypsy9]

I saw HERE'S LOVE appropriately in the Christmas season. The theatre was half full, despite a score by Meredith Willson. I found it to be a downer, from start to finish. Give me the movie, MIRACLE ON 34TH STREET with it's great cast, especiallly Edmund Gwen as Kris Kringle and Gene Lockhart as the judge.

[WOSQ]

Here's Love opened big out of town with great buzz coming in from Detroit and Philly. There was a big advance with lots of groups and theatre parties. Then it opened in early October to a blah reception.

One of the hardest things with a Christmas themed show is selling it the other ten months of the year.

Whoever was the original director was canned on the road and producer Stuart Ostrow took over. Michael Kidd got all the good reviews however.

Lisa Kirk took over from Janis Paige, and I think Richard Kiley took over from Craig Stevens.

They may have made their money back, but just barely, and I can't remember if there was a post-Broadway tour. If it did tour, it wasn't for very long.

[NoName3]

I thought John Payne had replaced Craig Stevens because I've seen Playbills on eBay with him and Lisa Kirk (there's one there now) and I remembered reading years ago how badly he had wanted the part when the show was being cast and had auditioned several times while he was still recovering from a near fatal accident when he was struck by a car on Madison Avenue. But IBDB says Kiley.

So I googled and found the interview linked below with Payne when he was starring in the show in the LA engagement of the national tour. He confirms the stories I remember of how badly he had tried to get the part originally and how the producers came back and asked him to do the tour, which he did after playing the part in New York for three weeks.


ETA that Norman Jewison was the director canned out of town.



John Payne in New Career After Near-Fatal Accident

[hushpuppy]

Fred Gwynne had also done 2 seasons on television's CAR 54, WHERE ARE YOU? so he wasn't exactly unknown.

I bought the LP years ago at a garage sale, listened to it a few times, and put it back on the shelf forevermore.

FWIW, aside from being a ho-hum show, HERE'S LOVE had the misfortune of opening only a month and a half before President Kennedy's assassination. Any boost it may have received from the upcoming holiday season may have been squelched by the somber mood of the nation. By the time HELLO, DOLLY! opened in January 1964, the country was ready to 'rejoin the human race', and DOLLY (a far superior show) became a national sensation, leaving HERE'S LOVE in the dust.

[jayinchelsea]

The opening number, "The Big Calown Balloons," was the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, and it was a terrific number choreographed by Michael Kidd. It was so good, that the show itself never recovered; nothing else could match its exuberance, and neither the familiar story nor the middling score could make the show jump.

Not a bad show, but not good enough to have an afterlife.

[miss pennywise]

I saw the original Broadway production. I was five. I found it tremendously boring.

When I was three, my parents took me to see "The Sound of Music" starring Mary Martin, which I adored. I remember it to this day with great fondness and affection. "Here's Love" I remember also...because I was annoyed with my parents for forcing me to sit through something so agonizingly bland.