JEREMY DANIEL
The cast of “Irving Berlin’s White Christmas” at Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn.
“Irving Berlin’s White Christmas” — which is currently being presented at The Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn — clearly intends to create a warm, nostalgic feeling, epitomized by the song “White Christmas” itself. You know, the one that starts:
I’m dreaming of a white ChristmasJust like the ones I used to knowWhere the treetops glistenAnd children listenTo hear sleigh bells in the snow
But can you be nostalgic for something you never experienced? I ask because the wholesome, clean-cut world of “Irving Berlin’s White Christmas” feels as foreign to me as if this were “Irving Berlin’s Star Wars.” I’ve never experienced anything like it, except maybe through plays and old movies.
I’m not saying it’s bad. I’m just saying that it represents a kind of retro fantasy.
JEREMY DANIEL
Keely Beirne and Casey Garvin co-star in “Irving Berlin’s White Christmas.”
The musical is based on the classic 1954 film (which co-starred Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, Rosemary Clooney and Vera-Ellen) and features a book by David Ives and Paul Blake. It debuted in 2000 and ran on Broadway in 2008 and 2009. The songs — all written by Berlin, but not all featured in the “White Christmas” film — are timeless. But the story, taken from the film and adapted for the musical by Ives and Blake, is a bit flimsy.
Still, the cast and crew of this immaculately polished production, directed by Paper Mill Playhouse producing artistic director Mark S. Hoebee (with the original Broadway choreography of Randy Skinner, re-created by Kristyn Pope), make the best out of what they have to work with. If you are the kind of person who melts every time Bing Crosby’s iconic version of “White Christmas” comes on the radio, and don’t mind jokes that reference Kate Smith and Topo Gigio — yes, I guess I’m trying to say that “Irving Berlin’s White Christmas” seems a little dated — by all means, see it before it ends its run in late December.
The plot is built around two love stories. Bob (Max Clayton) and his best friend Phil (Casey Garvin) — who are World War II soldiers in the musical’s opening scene but become, after the war, “America’s favorite song-and-dance team” — meet sisters Betty (Ashley Blanchet) and Judy (Kelly Beirne), who are also showbiz partners, but are far less successful, career-wise. Phil and Judy, who both have a wild streak, fall for each other immediately. (You may have heard that opposites attract; that doesn’t really apply to “Irving Berlin’s White Christmas”). Bob and Betty, who both tend to be more square and less fun — and very stubborn — follow the more time-honored arc of romantic comedies. They take an immediate dislike to each other before having a breakthrough that allows them to see each other’s true nature, and fall in love. They then have a misunderstanding that leads to a breakup, before they make up and become a couple for good.
JEREMY DANIEL
Ashley Blanchet and Max Clayton in “Irving Berlin’s White Christmas.”
The musical’s high point comes when Betty and Bob sing two of Berlin’s most exquisite ballads, “Love, You Didn’t Do Right by Me” and “How Deep Is the Ocean?,” as if in conversation with each other. In addition to “White Christmas” itself, the musical also includes Berlin classics such as “Blue Skies,” “Happy Holiday,” “I’ve Got My Love to Keep Me Warm” and “I Love a Piano,” and lesser known gems such as “Love and the Weather” (sample lyrics: “Love and the weather, always together/Planning another surprise/Bringing the raindrops just like the tears to your eyes”) and “Count Your Blessings.”
I could have done without “Snow,” though: A love song to snow, with one of the lines being “I long to clear a path and lift a spade of snow.” Really?
There are no bad guys in this musical. Gen. Henry Waverly (Lance Roberts) — Bob and Phil’s commanding officer in the army, and later the owner of the Vermont inn where they end up up putting on a show with Betty and Judy — has a gruff exterior, but a heart of gold, and Bob, Phil and their fellow soldiers look up to him as a hero. Martha (Stacia Fernandez), Henry’s innkeeper and potential love interest, also seems a bit crusty at first, but is later revealed to be warm and funny — and a former Broadway star, to boot, who can dazzle with her song-and-dance prowess as much as any other character.
JEREMY DANIEL
Savannah Austin in “Irving Berlin’s White Christmas.”
Mike (Lamont Brown), who directs the production at the inn, is a bundle of nervous anxiety, but this is played strictly for laughs. Candice Hatakeyama and Larkin Reilly have the thankless task of playing Rita and Rhoda, ditzy showgirls who seem to have come right out of ’50s Hollywood, and should have stayed there.
Savannah Austin and Annie Piper Braverman alternate as Henry’s precocious, scene-stealing granddaughter, Susan. And even Ezekiel (Buzz Roddy), the inn’s comically untalkative handyman, has a song in his heart, we eventually learn.
The small amount of tension that is in this musical is resolved when Betty and Bob come to see their misunderstanding for what it is, and Judy forgives Phil (much too quickly, I would say) for continuing to be a playboy even after they become romantically involved with each other. He has acted like a total jerk, but she accepts it with a shrug.
No problem stayed a problem for long in “White Christmas,” the song. Or in “White Christmas,” the film. And now, certainly not in “Irving Berlin’s White Christmas,” the musical.
May all your Christmases be white. And may all your endings be this happy.
The Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn will present “Irving Berlin’s White Christmas” through Dec. 29. Visit papermill.org.
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