"White Christmas," the beloved story of a post-World War II song-and-dance team who pursue romance with a pair of singing sisters while trying to make their old army commander’s dreams come true at Christmastime, first hit movie theatres in 1954.
It featured four popular stars of the era: Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, Rosemary Clooney and Vera-Ellen, and the music of Irving Berlin including the title tune.
Fast-forward to 2008, and a stage adaptation of the movie made its debut. And now, Springfield Little Theatre opens their production of the stage version of "White Christmas" tonight (Friday, November 18) and running through December 4 at the Landers Theatre, 311 E. Walnut St.
Chuck Rogers of SLT’s staff directs the show, and visited KSMU’s Arts News to talk about the production, which he says is Little Theatre's first.
“I've wanted to do it for many years, and it just worked out well,” Rogers says.
According to Rogers, the stage version is “pretty faithful to the film.” But there are some interesting differences.
“One of the characters in the film that we've all grown to love is the character that Mary Wickes plays. She's the General's housekeeper at the inn that they go to. Well, in the musical, they've turned this character into a faded Broadway star in the realm of Ethel Merman, who’s been working for the General for many years. She's played beautifully (in Little Theatre’s production) by Miriam Stein, and brings it a really interesting Broadway energy. You know, Broadway shows just have a different kind of energy than a film does. And it's fun to cheer her on.”
Also, in the film there are several Irving Berlin songs performed by the cast, but some other Berlin tunes are used in the orchestral underscoring of certain scenes. The stage version of "White Christmas" brings several of these to the forefront, complete with lyrics, bringing the total of Irving Berlin songs in the show to 17.
"And it helps tell the story a little bit," Rogers says, "because our story has been a little bit truncated just to work within a two hour live show format."
The major issue in the film is that the General now owns a ski resort in Vermont — but the Northeast is undergoing a mid-December heat wave, and all the snow has melted. Thus, no tourists, and no income at a crucial time in the resort’s existence.
So the Bing Crosby character (Bob Wallace) contacts an old friend who hosts a major network-TV variety show, who invites Bob to appear on the show and publicize his and his partner Phil Davis’s performances at the General’s resort.
Viewers of a certain age will automatically assume the film was making a vague reference to the long-running Ed Sullivan Show on CBS-TV… only in the movie, the variety show is on NBC, and the host’s name isn’t Sullivan.
The stage adaptation of "White Christmas" dispenses with all the pretense.
“No, it's full-out Ed Sullivan,” Rogers says — and the script even references acts that appeared on the Sullivan show, such as the mouse puppet character Topo Gigio.
Rogers adds, “It’s been really interesting for our company to reflect on all of the things that they have no knowledge of. There's jokes in the show that they just don't get, and we've had to talk about it. There's a scene with the manager of the talent for the Ed Sullivan Show, and he's talking about trying to get Topo Gigio on the show. And it's interesting: during rehearsals, nobody had any idea who Topo Gigio was.”
That’s only natural, of course — the Ed Sullivan Show was cancelled in 1971 after 23 seasons on the air, and the average age of Little Theatre’s cast is in the mid-20s. If you’re too young to remember Ed Sullivan (or Topo Gigio), there are plenty of YouTube videos with which to educate yourself.
Rogers encouraged his cast to check out the old Sullivan videos for themselves. “I've asked them to watch YouTube videos and anything they could find so that they could get a feel for or the period now”—not only the Sullivan show but other pop-culture references from the early and mid-1950s. (Actually, Topo Gigio didn’t start appearing on the Sullivan Show until the early 1960s, but I’m nitpicking.)
“Oh, I think with anything in life, it's just experiencing it. And we talk about it at rehearsals and we watch YouTube videos and all that. And once they get it and understand it, then it becomes just like just like everything else. Last night (Thursday November 17) it was fun. We had a preview audience last night and when a good part of the audience laughed at Topo Gigio jokes and I went downstairs during the intermission and said, ‘See, see?’”
Rogers continues, “I think the interesting thing that I've found with working with 'White Christmas' is the style of the show is so different from what we're used to seeing in current contemporary theater. You know, the SpongeBobs and the 'High School Musicals' and all. They’re so huge and "White Christmas" is so gentle. It's gentle, and it reflects that Christmas-card feeling you get when you watch the movie. You sit there and you think of fires and roasting chestnuts and Bing Crosby. It's just a gentler time and a quieter time.”
Asked how he’s enjoyed directing the show, Rogers says, “I love it. It's one of those shows that just really gets to your sense of family, gets to your sense of why you do live theater — especially me, for having been in community theater for so long. We have so much talent in our community and we've had a lot of new people come out for the show. We've got veterans, we’ve got a wonderful mix of the community in the show. And that's been really, really heartwarming. And I think, for the holidays and all of the troubles that we've had in the last couple of years, just to be able to go into the theater and just not have any worries, and just sit there and think about having a cup of hot chocolate and listening to great Irving Berlin tunes and watching superb actors. It's just a wonderful, relaxing way to spend a night."
Performances of "White Christmas" are scheduled Friday and Saturday nights at 7:30 p.m., Sundays at 2 p.m., November 18 through December 4. There are three extra performances scheduled as well: two Saturday matinees at 2 p.m. on November 26 and December 3, and a Thursday evening performance at 7:30 p.m. on December 1. Tickets range from $17 to $37.
For information, call the Landers Theatre box office at 417-869-1334, or visit springfieldlittletheatre.org.
