I’m back from the thee’ah-tur on this chilly November day less than 30 days before Christmas.
The bill of fare was “Irving Berlin’s ‘White Christmas’” and what a grand spectacle it all was.
It was tuneful, beautiful, spectacular and a fine tribute to the 1954 Paramount film of the same name.
The set design was unbelievably gorgeous and sets changed so often I cannot imagine the complexity of it all. The changes were noiseless, almost all done in total darkness.
The music was classic Berlin: “Happy Holiday,” “Let Yourself Go,” “Love and the Weather,” “Sisters,” “The Best Things Happen While You’re Dancing,” “Snow”, “What Do You Do With A General?”, “Let Me Sing and I’m Happy,” “Count Your Blessings,” “Blue Skies,” “I Love A Piano,” “Falling Out of Love Can Be Fun,” “Sisters” (Reprise w/the boys), “Love, You Didn’t Do Right By Me/How Deep Is the Ocean?” (nightclub sequence on a set that totally blew me away!!!), “We’ll Follow the Old Man,” “Let Me Sing and I’m Happy (Reprise), “How Deep is the Ocean” (Reprise), “We’ll Follow the Old Man” (Reprise), “White Christmas”, and for the Finale, “I’ve Got My Love to Keep Me Warm.”
“Let Yourself Go,” “I Love A Piano” and the "Finale" were full-blown extended ensemble numbers with some of the finest tapping I’ve had the pleasure of seeing. The choreography by Randy Skinner was wonderful.
The costumes were all 50s kitsch...and you’d swear Rosemary Clooney and Vera-Ellen wore nothing snazzier than their counterparts in this show.
The plot is fairly faithful to the film, but the general’s granddaughter Susan is a 9-year-old visiting from California because she’s never seen snow! The general’s housekeeper, Martha, is no Mary Wickes. No, she’s a former showstopper herself and wrangles her way into Phil and Bob’s show all the while eavesdropping and jumping to Wickesian conclusions.
Susan Mansur plays Martha and she’s terrific. A HUGE voice and a heaping helping of charisma explode onstage every time she’s on.
Husband-wife performers Graham Rowat and Kate Baldwin play the Crosby-Clooney roles. Both have big voices. Baldwin really sells “Love You Didn’t Do Right By Me” and Rowat is fine, with a “trained” voice that gets in the way too often for my tastes. (To me, it’s as if he has a certain note he loves to hit and every time he hits it, it's extended and booming, but it’s seldom the note that “ought” to be accentuated. It’s a self-conscious voice, and I hate to say it, but Baldwin indulges in that self-consciousness a few times, too).
Not so the Kaye-Ellen counterparts. THE spectacular male performer in this show is Mark Ledbetter. He’s a hoofer, a singer with a great voice (a great interpretive singer who lets the song be sung) and he exudes more energy than just about anybody except Mansur who has less stage time. Shannon O’Bryan is Judy Haynes and she’s a Vera-Ellen look-alike, physically (from the Loge, at any rate), with a good voice and plenty of hoofing talent.
Ledbetter was front-and-center in both big ensemble numbers and had some good moments with O’Bryan and Howat, as well. To me, he was the standout performer in the company.
I’ve never been fond of the framing for the story...the sappy front-lines stuff and the later “because we love him, we love him...” stuff. Somebody fetch me an insulin sucret!
And the character development is nominal...we “know” these characters from the movie, so we get more songs and dances than we do dialogue (which is a pure-tee blessing since it’s all rooted in 1954 idiom).
The overall production, though, is splendiferous, and director Walter Bobbie has gotten everything to work...and it’s all magic, with the added Finale surprise of snow blowing out onto the audience for a reprise of "White Christmas."
A VERY enjoyable, delightful entertainment!
