Musical theater composer Jerry Herman did not mount another Broadway musical after his 1983 hit La Cage aux Folles. But in the 1990s he accepted an offer from the Hallmark Entertainment Channel to write songs for a television movie musical for the holiday season. The result was Mrs. Santa Claus. Herman, the motivating force in the project (with a script by Mark Saltzman and directed by Terry Hughes), saw to it that the work was well within his comfort zone. He always had an affinity for the pop music of the Gilded Age and the early 20th century, with shows such as Hello, Dolly! set in the 1880s and Mack & Mabel in the 1910s, so he was able to make use of Sousa-like marches, ragtime, and Tin Pan Alley-style music for Mrs. Santa Claus. The show is set in 1910 and recounts the title character's visit to the Lower East Side of New York. Herman was also known for his ability to write for middle-aged female characters, as he did effectively in Milk and Honey, Hello, Dolly!, Mame, and Dear World. Two of those shows starred Angela Lansbury, and Lansbury was back as the middle-aged Mrs. Santa Claus. Not surprisingly, then, the score had a very familiar sound to Herman's fans. "Avenue A," for one song, could have come right out of Hello, Dolly!, and other songs were not so much in the Christmas spirit, as in the Herman spirit. In fact, there wasn't a lot of Christmas in the piece. According to the plot, a neglected Mrs. Claus takes off with the reindeer and sleigh prior to Christmas and finds herself temporarily stranded in New York, where she encounters issues of multiculturalism, women's rights, and union organizing that seem more redolent of the 1990s than the 1910s. There is also, of course, a romantic subplot. Lansbury has plenty of songs well-suited to her voice. And all turns out well in the end. The score is minor Herman, but suggested that he retained his talent for pleasant, melodic show tunes. ~ William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide
Charles Durning (Performer), Jerry Herman (Producer), Jerry Herman (Executive Producer), Don Pippin (Producer), Don Pippin (Executive Producer), Don Pippin (Musical Director), Bob Adcock (Cello), D.C. Anderson (Performer), Dale Anderson (Percussion), Rick Baptist (Trumpet), Chuck Berghofer (Bass), Bill Booth (Trombone), Dennis Budimir (Guitar), Larry Bunker (Percussion), Darius Campo (Violin), Gene Cipriano (Woodwind), Mathew Cooker (Cello), Larry Corbett (Cello), Assa Drori (Violin), Dennis Dreith (Orchestration), Dennis Ferrante (Mastering), Kirstin Fife (Violin), Carl Fortina (Accordion), Pamela Gates (Violin), George Graham (Trumpet), Endre Granat (Violin), Mark Green (Music Editor), Gwen Heller (Violin), Dan Higgins (Woodwind), Stephen Holtman (Trombone), Ron Jannelli (Woodwind), Michael Jeter (Performer), Marni Johnson (French Horn), Dennis Karmazyn (Cello), Larry Kenton (Performer), Darlene Koldenhoven (Performer), Ken Kugler (Trombone), Steve La Fever (Bass), Charles Loper (Trombone), David Low (Cello), Warren Luening (Trumpet), Suzette Moriarty (French Horn), Carole Mukogawa (Viola), Barbara Northcutt (Woodwind), Nick Perito (Accordion), John Richards (Engineer), John Richards (Mixing), Bob Sanov (Violin), Jeffrey Shannon (Assistant Engineer), Alan Steinberger (Piano), Alan Steinberger (Keyboards), David Stenske (Viola), Sheridon Stokes (Woodwind), Kimiyo Takeya (Violin), Cecilia Tsan (Cello), Albie Berk (Drums), Angela Lansbury (Performer), Gayle Levant (Harp), Leslie Woodbury (Violin), Rhonni Hallman (Violin), Bill Rosenfield (A&R), John Walz (Cello), Larry Blank (Orchestration), Larry Blank (Music Supervisor), Renita Koven (Viola), Ron Folsom (Violin), Dawn Dover (Violin), Richard Dombrowski (Art Direction), Wayne Bergeron (Trumpet), Carolyn Osborn (Violin), Tony Esparza (Photography), Mark Saltzman (Liner Notes), Dana Kelley (French Horn), Mike Lang (Piano), Mike Lang (Keyboards), Mimi Granat (Viola), Emily Bernstein (Woodwind), Bryan Murray (Performer), Rose Corrigan (Woodwind), Vanessa Vandergriff (Performer), David Krane (Arranger), Stacy Sullivan (Performer), Kristi Lynes (Performer), Fred W. Greene (Tuba), Bob Becker (Viola), Terrence Mann (Performer), Ross De Roche (Tuba), Lynsey Bartilson (Performer), Grace Keagy (Performer), Sabrina "Dorinda" Bryan (Performer), Geoff Koch (Performer), Mitchah "Genesis" Williams (Performer), Linda Kerns (Performer)
