Irving Berlin’s White Christmas
Zara Baker finds Irving Berlin’s White Christmas is a great festive show for all the family to enjoy in Eastbourne over Christmas
Who’s dreaming of a white Christmas? Unfortunately, past the age of 18 when thoughts turned to treacherous driving conditions and the cost of the central heating bill, for me the white stuff has become a lot less appealing. But thinking back to days of old, snowed in, with nowhere to be and surrounded by family and friends, snow does have the power to transport us back to days of childhood innocence. Impractical? Yes. Fun. Definitely.
Which is where Irving Berlin’s White Christmas comes in.
I’ve never seen White Christmas, the 1954 Paramount Pictures film starring Bing Crosby. Before this year, I’d never seen the classic High Society, yet I thoroughly enjoyed the film after watching the stunning stage production in Eastbourne over the summer. So, when I had the chance to see Royal Hippodrome Theatre Company (RHT)’s production prior to its Christmas run at the Hippodrome this Christmas I jumped at the chance.
The historic theatre (dating back to the 1880s) made the perfect setting for the classic story. RHT’s preview screening of White Christmas attracted the holiday makers, packing out the intimate theatre. With the growing interest from younger audiences in ballroom dancing thanks to programmes like Strictly Come Dancing, it was a shame not to see many younger faces or families in the crowd.
The small stage was used to great effect, with set changes prompt and fluent, transporting us from the Western Front in 1944 to 1954 New York and then The Columbia Inn in Vermont.The changes made were minimal: the backdrop and one or two prop arrangements, but it never looked bare.
Double act Wallace and Davis had the charm of The Rat pack and the voices to match. The Haynes sisters depicted the 1950s perfectly and the performances from the entire cast were spot on in sound and delivery.
The story is touching, funny and romantic all at once. It’s simple storytelling, where miscommunication and overhearing leads to wrong conclusions. Martha Watson (Helen Ward-Jackson) was fun and feisty as General Henry Waverley (Clem Jackson)’s daughter. The father and daughter team run the Vermont inn that’s under threat of closure. For those looking for a white Christmas, the inn is the wrong place to be as an unprecedented yuletide heatwave engulfs the area. It’s up to Wallace and Davis and the Haynes sisters to pull together to help save the inn, but with them all not seeing eye to eye, things are not as straightforward as they first appear.
Amelia Walker as young Susan Waverley was perfectly cast and came into her own during her solo performance.
The set was used effectively, with lights highlighting the action on one side of the stage before being cast in shadow and the action moving to another side depicting characters in a different setting at the same time period as the first.
The orchestra were fantastic, and the songs, despite being unfamiliar with the majority of them, were all enjoyable. White Christmas is a story all ages can enjoy, set in an era in living memory but alien to a lot of us. I hope in the run up to Christmas more families go to see the show. It’s something different to the traditional panto and if you don’t know the songs, you will still be able to join in the glittery festive finale of ‘White Christmas’.
Irving Berlin’s White Christmas is on at the Royal Hippodrome Theatre, Eastbourne, 19th December 2013–4th January 2014. For show times and prices see www.eastbournetheatres.co.uk
