“The best things happen while you’re dancing,” croons song-and-dance man Dan Burton (a terrific Phil Davis) whose rehearsal process is more geared towards working on the second chorus girl than the second chorus. In stark contrast to his partner in limelights Bob Wallace (an equally accomplished Matthew Jeans) whose bad luck with the broads draws the rhetorical refrain: “Have you ever considered giving the female sex a breather?”

The same could be said of director Ian Talbot’s impressive touring revival of Curve Theatre’s 2018 production of White Christmas which overcomes the shortcomings of a thin plot and a tame drama with a classy ensemble who perform the slick routines of Olivier Award-winning choreographer Stephen Mear with verve.

As do Jessica Daley and Emily Langham as the swinging Hayes sisters Betty and Judy; and Sally Ann Triplett as Martha “The Megaphone” Watson whose Mermanesque rendition of Let Me Sing And I’m Happy is one of the highlights of the show.

Laced with several timeless tunes performed with great gusto by musical director Neil MacDonald’s eight-piece band – including Blue Skies, Count Your Blessings (Instead of Sheep), How Deep Is The Ocean? and the titular White Christmas which won an Oscar as the original hit song of Holiday Inn – one of the surprising things about Irving Berlin’s musical, the stage adaptation of which was co-written by David Ives and Paul Blake for The Muny Theatre in St. Louis’s 2000 world premiere, is just how un-festive it feels.

Sure, the ski slopes of Vermont are comically snowless due to a freak December heatwave and the yuletide holidaymakers have packed their ski bags for colder climes, but the storyline is more mechanical than magical. As epitomised by the train-travelling track Snow which is more a march of anticipation than a wide-eyed wish for a festive flurry.

That said, many in the audience rose to their feet after the snow-sprinkling finale of White Christmas and the producers recently announced another UK tour, so to borrow a phrase from the man-eating Megaphone who in her heyday is said to have blown more than the brass of 23 horn-players, there’s life in “the old rooster” yet!

Peter Callaghan
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