Mrs. Santa Claus

Mrs. Santa Claus
DVD cover
Directed by	Terry Hughes
Produced by	David Shaw
Written by	Mark Saltzman
Starring	Angela Lansbury Michael Jeter Terrence Mann Lynsey Bartilson Bryan Murray David Norona Debra Wiseman
Music by	Jerry Herman
Cinematography	Stephen M. Katz
Editing by	Stan Cole
Distributed by	Hallmark Entertainment & Corymore Productions
Release date(s)	1996-12-08
Running time	90 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

Mrs. Santa Claus is a 1996 television musical starring Angela Lansbury as the wife of Santa Claus. The musical score for Mrs. Santa Claus was written by Jerry Herman, the celebrated Broadway composer of such hit musicals as Hello, Dolly!.

Synopsis

The movie is set in December, 1910. Mrs. Santa Claus is trying to convince her husband, Santa Claus, (Charles Durning) to take a new route, but he is preoccupied with the Christmas rush and won't listen. Disgruntled, she takes the sleigh out herself, but is forced to land in New York City, where she is stranded when one of the reindeer (Cupid) becomes injured. As "Mrs. North", she takes up board with a family of Jewish immigrants, who don't celebrate Christmas. She befriends many of the locals and becomes involved with political issues of the period such as child labor and women's suffrage.

Musical score

• Seven Days 'Til Christmas - Michael Jeter/Kristi Lynes/Jamie Torcellini/Angela Lansbury
• Mrs. Santa Claus - Angela Lansbury
• Avenue A - David Norona/Grace Keagy/Linda Kerns/Ensemble
• Avenue A (Reprise) - Angela Lansbury
• A Tavish Toy - Terrence Mann/The Kids
• Almost Young - Angela Lansbury
• Almost Young (Reprise) - The Kids/Angela Lansbury
• Suffragette March - Linda Kerns/Grace Keagy/Debra Wiseman/Angela Lansbury/The Women
• We Don't Go Together At All - Debra Wiseman/David Norona
• Whistle - Angela Lansbury/Lynsey Bartilson
• Dear Mrs. Santa Claus - Charles Durning
• Whistle (Reprise) - Angela Lansbury/Lynsey Bartilson
• He Needs Me - Angela Lansbury Listen Listen
• The Best Christmas Of All - Charles Durning/Angela Lansbury/Ensemble

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Release and availability

The movie was broadcast on CBS television on December 8, 1996 in the USA, and was not shown in the UK until 2000, when it was broadcast on December 22. The movie was commercially released on VHS in the US on August 20, 2002, and was released on Region 1 format on DVD in 2003. It has never been commercially released in the UK, but Daily Mail and the Irish Daily Mail released it in a special collection of Christmas movies. This version had no menu and no scene selection, and was for promotional purposes only.

The soundtrack was released by RCA on audio CD and on cassette shortly before its television release, on November 26, 1996. It featured hummable Jerry Herman songs and has become a popular addition to his collection.

Awards and nominations

The movie received Emmy Award nominations for: Outstanding Art Direction for a Miniseries or a Special, Outstanding Choreography, Outstanding Costume Design for a Miniseries or a Special, Outstanding Music and Lyrics (for the song "Mrs. Santa Claus"). It won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Hairstyling for a Miniseries or a Special.

References

External links

• New York Times review, December 6, 1996
• Playbill news article, July 29, 2005
• Mrs. Santa Claus at the Internet Movie Database
• Mrs. Santa Claus at Allmovie