5 Things to Know about Persephone Theatre’s Miracle on 34th Street
Photo Credit: Hal Kerbes as Kris Kringle and Charlotte Thomson as Susan Walker give a sneak peak of Miracle on 34th Street during a media call at Persephone Theatre. The play, adapted by Caleb Marshall and Erin Keating and from the classic story by Valentine Davies, will be on the main stage Dec. 4-29. Photo taken in Saskatoon, Sask. on Wednesday, December 4, 2024. Photo by Michelle Berg /Saskatoon StarPhoenix
December 5, 2024
Saskatoon’s Persephone theatre is revisiting a decades-old holiday tradition on screen and stage with its version of Miracle on 34th Street. Here are five things to know about the theatre company’s latest production, which runs from Dec. 4 to 22:
1 — Youngsters sharing big role
Charlotte Thomson, a Grade 5 student, and Vinnie May Jones, a fourth grader, are sharing the lead role of Susan Walker.
“I’m very excited,” Thomson said. “I really like being the centre of attention, and as a child with two siblings, you don’t really get that.”
Jones said she was “really nervous at first,” but then she “realized no one’s going to judge, or criticize, so I’m just like, what’s the point of being nervous?”
Thomson has previously been in a children’s chorus. For Jones, it’s her first time acting in a production. They’ll alternate performances playing the character first made famous by Natalie Wood in the 1947 film.
“I think it’s good because that would get very busy and exhausting, doing eight performances (a week),” Thomson said.
Lucas White and Lachlan Wright will do the same performance-splitting for the roles of Mortimer and Tommy.
Hal Kerbes as Kris Kringle and Charlotte Thomson as Susan Walker give a sneak peak of Miracle on 34th Street during a media call at Persephone Theatre. The play, adapted by Caleb Marshall and Erin Keating and from the classic story by Valentine Davies, will be on the main stage Dec. 4 to 29. Photo by Michelle Berg /Saskatoon StarPhoenix
2 — Kringle performer a veteran of stage
Calgary native Hal Kerbes, making his Persephone debut in the role of Kris Kringle, is the lone performer not from Saskatchewan — but his reputation precedes him.
Kerbes has worked on stage and in the theatre for nearly five decades, with a resume that includes Anything Goes, Fiddler on the Roof, Joseph & the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Elf, Evita, Into the Woods, To Kill a Mockingbird, Philadelphia Story, Disney’s Beauty & the Beast, Sweeney Todd, The Sound of Music and more.
Kerbes and his wife Kathryn, have been honoured and recognized for their sustained and significant contribution to theatre and musical theatre in Calgary.
With his white beard, he also bears a striking resemblance to Santa — and has often stepped into the red suit around Calgary.
“My favourite part is when Santa is like, ‘Give it a tug!’ and then she tugs his beard,” Thomson said about one of her character’s exchanges with Kerbes’s Kringle.
