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Tuesday, May 22, 2012
The best things happen while they're dancing (and singing): Runaway Stage opens 'White Christmas'
by Barry Wisdom, published on November 12, 2011 at 4:12 PM
Storyline: Theater preview
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photographs by Barry WIsdom
There's no bigger fan of the 1954 Paramount Picture production of "White Christmas" than yours truly. Frankly, I do not trust anyone who doesn't want to eat up this all-dancing, all-singing holiday confection with a great big spoon ("Yum! Yum!").
The Technicolor/VistaVision musical offers a solid score by Irving Berlin, and a host of cinematic triple-threats including Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, Rosemary Clooney and Vera-Ellen. (OK - the women are really just double threats: the diminutive Vera-Ellen's singing voice was dubbed and Clooney is pretty much stiff as an overcooked gingerbread woman).
The film also features a batch of wonderful supporting performances. These include turns by Dean Jagger, Mary Wickes and, if you look quick, George Chakiris (Sharks leader Bernardo in 1961's "West Side Story") as a chorus boy who backs Clooney in her solo nightclub performance.
It took 50 years, but a stage version of "White Christmas" was finally unwrapped for überfans such as myself, opening in San Francisco in 2004. I still have my program.
The plot is basically the same as the story conceived by screenwriters Norman Krasna, Norman Panama and Melvin Frank: a pair of World War II veterans become a successful song-and-dance team, get roped into reviewing a sister act as a favor to "an old pal in the Army," then head to Vermont, where the sisters are booked at a ski lodge/resort for the holidays.
There, they mount an impossibly lavish show to save the "Tyrolean haunted house"-turned-lodge that just happens to be owned by their former commanding officer. Romance, hilarity and sparkling production numbers ensue.
There are a few alterations for the stage show, including the addition of songs from Berlin's deep catalog ("I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm," "I Love a Piano," "Falling Out of Love Can Be Fun" the expansion of intimate numbers into full-blown spectaculars ("Snow"), and a reworking of a few characters. Emma, the nosy housekeeper in the film, is now a retired Broadway vet who wants to be in the show, and granddaughter Susan is an aspiring performer. Both characters enjoy featured solos.
Today, this stage adaptation of "White Christmas" is becoming an annual yuletide treat for repertory and regional theaters throughout the United States.
On Nov. 11, Runaway Stage Productions opened the "Sacramento community premiere" of the musical (which features the company's 18-member resident orchestra and an immensely talented cast). Directed by Bob Baxter, "White Christmas" continues through Dec. 4 at Sacramento's 24th Street Theatre (at the Sierra 2 Center), 2791 24th St. (For tickets, call (916) 207-1226.)
I was lucky enough to shoot dress-rehearsal shots of the show a day earlier.
Enjoy!
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Mothercourage14
November 15, 2011 | 9:27 AM
oUCH- That's me being nudged out of my occupy grinch movement and actually enjoying these photos-
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Barry Wisdom
November 15, 2011 | 11:19 PM
Thank you, MC14 ... high praise indeed! Glad I could grow your heart three sizes!
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