White Christmas kicks off with a bang (quite literally) with Matthew Wright’s Western Front set depicting Christmas Eve 1944 with mortar shells exploding all around. Bob Wallace and Phil Davis (the irrepressible and insurmountable Darren Day and Oliver Tompsett) entertain the troops with a homesick ‘Happy Holiday’ and a pared down endearingly emotive ‘White Christmas’. Their aging commander, General Henry Waverley (Andrew Jarvis) commends the entertainers for their work in such a harsh environment and comes over as a stern man but with a heart of gold.
We then flash forward a decade to the Ed Sullivan Show, the hugely popular Sunday night TV programme, hosted by the father of the American talk show with some 12 million viewers. There is eye candy here for all inclinations with Day and Tompsett displaying frenetic flourishes of fantastic dance movements met by equally ecstatic dance steps from Rita and Rhoda (Lucy Williamson and Kirby Hughes).
My good friend Holly Spanner is my companion for the evening (she is my editor at The Public Reviews) and is already nudging me with excitement and swooning away – this ticket is the best Christmas present you’ll ever give! This is by no means just a cosy, feel-good theatrical feast – though it works as such – as songs like ‘Love and the Weather’ remind us too of the difficulties of romance.
This is seen in the way that despite the instant hit between Phil and Judy Haynes Bob and Judy’s ‘sister’ Betty don’t really get on at all initially. Anyhow, Betty and Judy’s sensational rendition of ‘Sisters’ sets the high bar for the show in all three aspects of singing, dancing and orchestration.
There are various shenanigans that go on to get out to Vermont and this is dealt with whacky wit and a fair old whish through the scene changes. So now I may as well as get confessional that I had a bit of a thing for Melanie La Barrie from when she played the Woman of the World in Blues of the Night at WYP back in the Leeds Guide daze. And it really does work here again with her sultry sexuality and sassy streetwise style in ‘Let Me Sing And I’m Happy’.
Then one of the most touching moments comes near the end of Act 1 where Bob serenades a lullaby to Susan Waverley (the General’s granddaughter and a sensational discovery in Gaia Ottman). This then develops the love interest between Bob and Betty as they duet blissfully on ‘Count Your Blessings Instead of Sheep’.
So rehearsals for the show that will rescue the General’s inn from bankruptcy and bring the 151st battalion together for Christmas sees the ensemble pump out a riveting and uplifting version of ‘Blue Skies’, ending the first act on an incredible high.
For the commencement of Act 2 Phil and Judy make the most of Matthew Wright’s extravagant design (a descending neon staircase in the shape of a piano keyboard) with ‘I Love a Piano’. Without being a spoiler Martha’s misunderstanding has put a spanner in the works of the show and they have a girlie moment singing ‘Falling Out of Love Can Be Fun’.
The complexities between Betty and Bob are further developed with more great numbers (‘Love You Didn’t Do Right By Me’ and ‘How Deep is the Ocean’) the latter of which is reprised when the two are reconciled. From then on it’s just absolutely spectacular magic that has much of the appreciative audience to its feet with thunderous applause (my cheeks were full of little running rivulets of happy tears). It’s just an all-singing, all-dancing bubble of festive fun and hope and gets a 5*+ rating from this Culture Vulture.
Runs at West Yorkshire Playhouse, Leeds until 17 January 2015.
Review: Rich Jevons
Photos: Antony Robling & Manuel Harlan