White Christmas - Review

The Mill at Sonning

****

Music and lyrics by Irving Berlin

Book by David Ives and Paul Blake

Directed by Jonathan O'Boyle

Nic Myers, Connor Hughes, Gabriella Williams and Jason Kajdi

White Christmas, that perennial festive favourite is given a delightful treatment at The Mill Theatre in Sonning. Based on the 1954 classic movie, the stage iteration of this yuletide charmer was only penned in 2000 and yet, with its score of some of Irving Berlin’s greatest songs, the show feels as though it has been around forever.

Jonathan O’Boyle directs an accomplished cast through the wonderfully corny plot that's all about love and loyalty, through the prism of two nationally famous ex-US Army singers who set about trying to woo the sister act of two lesser known chanteuses. Set, for the most part, in snowy Vermont in a 1950s December, the visual white Christmas charm that Hollywood's cameras could create has to be imagined here. O’Boyle however helms his cast and crew magnificently and theatrical magic really does descend onto this intimate auditorium by the Thames.

Elliot Allinson, Connor Hughes, Nic Myers and Gabriella Williams play the four star-crossed leads and they forge a terrific chemistry within this show that is little more than a Yuletide whirl through some of the American Songbook’s favourites. The two guys set the scene with Happy Holidays, while Myers and Williams have their chance to shine early on with Sisters. Perhaps the greatest singing surprise of the evening is Shirley Jameson’s act-one take on Let Me Sing And I’m Happy, a glorious celebration of life and humanity that’s powerfully performed. And of course, as the proceedings conclude, there’s a glorious singalong of the show’s eponymous title number.

The design and staging is ingenious for The Mill’s compact space, with Gary Lloyds choreography an equal treat as the cast of only 14 souls fill the stage with perfectly drilled movement. If there is one criticism, it is that the floor of the stage is too soft and sound-absorbent to really project the aural magnificence of the show’s several tap-numbers, not doing justice to the cast’s remarkable talents. Tucked away out of sight, Jae Alexander's seven-piece band make fine work of Berlin's compositions.

One is left smiling throughout White Christmas – it is a delightfully festive fantasy!

Runs until 25th January 2025

Photo credit: Pamela Raith

White Christmas

Curve Theatre, Leicester



****

Music and lyrics by Irving Berlin

Book by David Ives and Paul Blake

Directed by Nikolai Foster

Emma Williams, Danny Mac, Dan Burton and Monique Young

There are few shows as comforting and traditional at this time of year as Irving Berlin’s White Christmas. It’s a corny old yarn for sure that sees Dan Burton and Danny Mac playing Phil Davis and Bob Wallace and two ex-trouper/troopers who team up with the Haynes Sisters (Emma Williams and Monique Young) to put on  a show in Vermont, and rescue the business of their former and much loved commanding officer General Waverly who since the end of World War 2, has been running an upstate Inn and making horrendous losses.

Strip away the seasonal feel, and the story crumbles under close scrutiny. But with Berlin’s classic numbers and in the gifted creative hands of director Foster and his choreographer Stephen Mear, the evening becomes a fabulous feel-good delight.

Foster has established form in coaxing excellence from Mac and Williams, but it is Mear who offers the lucky citizens of Leicester their biggest Xmas treat by taking Burton and Young away from his usual seasonal offering at Paris’ Theatre du Châtelet, to their native side of the English Channel and pairing them at the Curve. These two actors have seen recent years allow them to develop an intuitive connection in their dancework – they surely have to be the finest movers in the nation’s musical theatre corps, proving this again with their  phenomenal footwork in the show’s second half opener I Love A Piano.

Mear of course delivers excellence from across his ensemble, with strong performances from Garry Robson as Waverly and from Wendy Mae Brown as Martha Watson, the General’s much put upon, (but ultimate) sweetheart and, on press night, the cutest turn from Georgia Stewart as his young granddaughter Susan.

A seasonally busy Jason Carr has done beautiful work arranging the Songbook classics, while the seven piece band, under Neil Macdonald’s direction, take the packed Curve houses all the way back to the 1950s – heck, the snowblowers even deliver a venue-filling blizzard as the audience delight in a singalong of the title number.

White Christmas maybe as cheesy as a fine old stilton, but it’s still first-class festive fayre!

Runs until 13th January 2019

Photo credit: Catherine Ashmore

White Christmas - Review

Dominion Theatre, London

****

Music and lyrics by Irving Berlin

Book by David Ives and Paul Blake

Directed by Morgan Young

Aled Jones and Tom Chambers

If your idea of a Christmas theatre visit trip is to enjoy warm, sweet festive fayre, then White Christmas' arrival in London is the perfect choice. Loosely (very loosely) based on the classic Bing Crosby/Danny Kaye movie, David Ives and Paul Blake have used Irving Berlin's songs as baubles to decorate their delightfully improbable plot. This new tale just about bears a passing resemblance to the movie's story of 4 troupers attempting to put on a show at a Vermont ski resort enjoying an unseasonal heat wave, as in the background the most sugary of romances sees true love blossom across the generations.

For so long an established part of Britain's Christmas TV tradition, it is only fitting that Aled Jones should descend from Walking In The Air to inherit Crosby's mantle. The square-jawed Welshman and Radio 2 regular gets the combination of cheese and charm spot on as his Bob Wallace gradually falls for singer Betty Haynes. Alongside Jones, Tom Chamber's fame is relatively recent - but this fabulously footed NYMT alumnus is fast becoming one of the West End's hottest properties when a show requires a flourish of traditional lavish Broadway with a generous dose of tap. He pulls off the Danny Kaye tribute as Phil Davis delightfully.

Opposite the men, Rachel Stanley smoulders as the beautifully indignant Betty, whilst Louise Bowden, playing her stage sister Judy, stuns with both movement and voice. Graham Cole (famously of Sun Hill nick) is prematurely aged to play General Waverley, whilst the deliciously lovable Wendi Peters gives a belt that has to be heard to be believed.

The songs are comfortably familiar gems. Sisters early in act one is a treat, whilst the first half's closing number, Blue Skies, is a masterpiece of a pinpoint ensemble routine, clad in the sharpest white suits. Youngster (on the night), Sophia Pettit delivers a suitably precocious Let Me Sing And I'm Happy with enough confidence in voice and dance to charm the (already sympathetic) crowd, whilst the second act moves inexorably towards an ending that couldn't be happier, as the by now warmed up audience are encouraged to join in with the record-breaking eponymous title number.

Whilst the sets are neat if a touch simple, the costumes are lavish and Randy Skinner's choreography is immaculately drilled (congratulations captains Grace Holdstock and Gary Murphy). Peter Wilson's 20 piece orchestra give Berlin's compositions a gorgeous lilt.

White Christmas is a show that's a snowfall of non-demanding loveliness - just like the ones we used to know.

Runs to 3rd January 2015