🎟️ Event Review
📍 Quick Facts
· Event Type: Community Theatre / Musical
· Location: Beddington Theatre Arts Centre, 375 Bermuda Drive NW, Calgary, AB T3K 2J5
· Duration: Approximately 2 hours, including a 15-minute intermission
· Ticket Info: Tickets required
We went to Beddington Theatre to see Miracle on 34th Street and came away with a whole new appreciation for Calgary’s community theatre scene. Storybook Theatre’s production was packed with heart, talent and Christmas magic, and it left us eager to see what else was happening behind those doors.
When we pulled up, we wondered if we were about to walk into something resembling a school gymnasium. Boy, were we in for a surprise!
We stepped into the cutest little lobby, where we were greeted by what looked like a perfect replica of the car from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, a prop from a previous production. It looked remarkably like a real car until we got a closer look. The quality of the craftsmanship was our first hint of the quality of the production we were about to see.
Tastefully decorated for Christmas, the car was surrounded by little trees, with a few presents tucked into the back seat. Charming!
Above the car hung a row of colourful vertical banners celebrating the theatre’s 49th season. Some featured shows from the past, while others offered a glimpse of productions still to come. Around the lobby, posters advertising upcoming shows were displayed in illuminated glass cases, all tastefully decorated for the season.
Then there were the enormous storybooks mounted directly above the entrance. They looked like giant replicas of classic leather-bound books, complete with embossed covers, stacked in neat little piles. The charm just kept building, and we weren’t even inside the theatre yet!
At the back of the lobby was a bar and canteen offering a limited menu of snacks and beverages. We were early, so we settled onto one of the benches and waited for the theatre doors to open.
As showtime approached, the lobby filled with patrons eager to see the performance. We also began noticing the staff — or, more accurately, the volunteers — who were all dressed in very professional-looking uniforms.
Then the chimes announced the show was about to begin. We made our way back towards the entrance, where our tickets were scanned at the podium before we headed inside. A hallway about 25 feet long, lined with even more show posters, led us into the theatre.
The theatre itself was tiny and quaint, with an intimate layout that brought the audience right into the action. Rather than a traditional raised stage, the performance area was at floor level, with the first row of seats just one step higher.
Two central seating sections stretched back 11 rows, while a right-hand wing section had five rows of five seats, beginning roughly halfway back. The set featured the fronts of 1940s-style city houses, complete with doors and windows the actors used as they moved through the scenes. It felt like we were looking right into a little neighbourhood.
That close, floor-level arrangement would prove especially effective during the courtroom scenes later in the show.
Once the production began, we were captivated. The cast was wonderful across the board, but Gary Hodgkinson, who played Kris Kringle, truly blew us away. His voice was world-stage quality, with the power to really belt it out. He was an absolute standout.
We were surprised to discover that Gary is also the owner of Calgary’s British Chippy. Who knew our fish and chips came with a potential concert on the side? We’ll definitely be asking for a song with our next order!
The courtroom scenes were particularly clever. We were seated in the second row, and when the trial began, the set was arranged so the judge faced us, with the backs of the defendants’ and Crown’s desks towards our seats. Benches were brought out and placed directly in front of the first row, where actors playing members of the public took their seats. Just like that, they became the front row of the courtroom, while those of us who had come to watch the show became the spectators seated behind them.
The fun really began when something preposterous or unexpected happened. The actors on the benches would turn towards the real audience, exchanging looks and reacting as though they were whispering to their neighbours: ‘Can you believe what he just said?!’ or ‘That’s not right!’ Those of us in the first couple of rows weren’t just watching the courtroom drama unfold. We had become part of it.
We fell in love with Beddington Theatre. In fact, we loved it so much that we’d already bought tickets for StoryBook Theatre’s upcoming production of Anne of Green Gables. We could easily imagine many more nights of wonderful entertainment within these walls.
If there are still tickets available, grab them! Miracle on 34th Street is a wonderful family show, packed with character, charm and a level of quality that can hold its own on London’s West End. Storybook Theatre has delivered something special here, and it deserves a full house.
Fresh, fabulous, and fun. Well done, Storybook Theatre!
📊 Scorecard
· Organization and Flow: 4.5/5
· Engagement & Content: 5/5
· Location & Venue Comfort: 5/5
· Value for Money: 5/5
· ⭐ Overall Rating: 5/5 Stars
