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In August 1942, the film HOLIDAY INN premiered at the Paramount theatre in New York City. It made an instant classic of the song by Irving Berlin, WHITE CHRISTMAS, which is sung in the film by Bing Crosby.
The song became the most recorded and covered Christmas composition of all time, with hundreds of different versions, it also sparked in 1954, an entirely different film called WHITE CHRISTMAS.
In 2005, WHITE CHRISTMAS became a Broadway stage production, and subsequently, HOLIDAY INN was also developed into a stage musical, premiering in Connecticut, at the Good-speed Opera House in 2014.
Drury Lane productions, which produces musicals out of their space in Burlington, has chosen HOLIDAY INN as its next production.
The story tell us of Jim, Ted, and Lila, who are vaudeville song and dance performers, and a love triangle that is further complicated, with Jim's decision not to continue on the road, but to retire to a beautiful farm in rural Connecticut.
Jim has the idea to open a performance venue at the farm that is only open to the public on holidays. This provides the themes, as the songs, and musical numbers all evoke specific American holidays, ranging from July 4th, President's Day, Thanksgiving, and ending of course with the Yuletide festivities around Christmas.
To quote the synopsis, "life without music and dance feels incomplete until Jim meets Linda, a schoolteacher with incredible talent. Together, they transform the farmhouse into a dazzling inn that celebrates every holiday with spectacular performances. However, when Jim’s best friend Ted arrives and tries to take Linda to Hollywood as his new dance partner, Jim must fight to save both his love and his dream."
The Drury Lane production is directed and choreographed by Michael Maclennan with Musical Direction by Donna Dunn-Albert. The cast includes Jacob M. Wagman as Jim Hardy, Lucas Chabot as Ted Hanover, Samantha Lindgren as Lila Dixon, Michelle Wagman as Linda Mason and Joe Balaz as Danny.
Irving Berlin wrote dozens and dozens of classic songs, and the score has been expanded to include several of his most popular numbers. Including “Shaking the Blues Away,” “Heat Wave,” “Blue Skies,” “Cheek to Cheek,” and “Easter Parade”.
In that sense, even though this production conceived by Chad Hodge and Gordon Greenburg, is a remake of a classic film; it also is a jukebox musical that takes us through classic numbers.
I've always found it quite ironic of course that some of the best Christmas songs of all time were in fact written by Jewish songwriters. Perhaps the idea of the holiday and the nostalgia of days gone by is what is fuelling this particular project. The original impact of course was that soldiers were off serving overseas during the Second World War, and the "white Christmas" they all desperately wanted; surrounded at home with loved ones. The irony being of course that many of them would never return.
Local audiences will have the chance to check out the stage version of HOLIDAY INN, beginning November 1st and continuing until the 24th. The venue is quite small, which of course explains the number of performances. It runs through most of November until the 24th. There is a charity performance on Thursday November 14th.
