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Irving Berlin without apologies
'Irving Berlin's White Christmas' at the Walnut
Steve Cohen
Richard Rodgers, asked his opinion of Irving Berlin's place in American music, supposedly responded: "Irving Berlin is American music." Or as Cole Porter wrote in a letter to a friend: "You must admit he is the greatest songwriter of all time, and I don't mean Stephen Foster."
Berlin's songs are less sophisticated than Porter's and even simpler than then those of Rodgers; they seem effortless as they embody the feelings of average Americans. Listen to the poetry in the ballad sung by Jeff Coon in Act II:
How much do I love you? I'll tell you no lie.
How deep is the ocean? How high is the sky?
Simple. Only one word contains more than one syllable.
Audience sing-along
So attending Irving Berlin's White Christmas is a guilty pleasure. The show is superficial, corny and old-fashioned, but it sure is fun. This is an extravagant production with plenty of good music.
You've heard about shows where you come out of the theater humming the songs (if you're lucky.) Well, with White Christmas you walk into the theater humming them. When the leading characters, early in the show, start the title song, the audience spontaneously sings along.
This White Christmas is an expansion of the 1954 movie of the same name, which itself was a remembrance of the 1942 Berlin-Crosby-Astaire film, Holiday Inn, about song-and-dance men who buy an inn in New England. Jeffrey Coon as a crooner (reminiscent of Bing Crosby in the movie) and David Elder as a hoofer (like Fred Astaire) team up to present 17 excellent Irving Berlin songs.
Berlin in wartime
White Christmas also conjures memories (for me, at least) of Berlin's all-soldier wartime Broadway musical, This Is the Army, as it opens with Coon and Elder performing on a Pacific island during World War II. The soldiers wonder where they'll be in ten years, when the war will be long over, and the balance of the show fast-forwards to that future time.
This theatrical device reminded me of the stories I've heard from a friend who appeared in the original This Is the Army from 1942 to 1945: "The GIs thought they were going to see an accordion player and a broad shaking her ass. But we gave them an enormous show with 150 men." That was performed near battlefields in Italy, and Egypt and on tiny Pacific islands; earlier, This Is the Army played on Broadway and toured the U.S. with 300 men.
Julie Reiber and Vanessa Sonon are a singing sister act who become romantically involved with the guys. One is a sincere brunette, the other a pushy blonde "“ stereotypes, to be sure"“ and their characterizations are even sketchier than the men's. No matter: The players are vehicles for the music.
Highlights include a choreographic spectacle for "Blue Skies" and tap dancing on top of pianos during "I Love a Piano." The snowflakes falling from above during the finale aren't as spectacular as those of the Broadway revival in 2008, but in general the Walnut staging is gaudy. Director and choreographer Marc Robin does an excellent job. Coon and Elder are comparable to Broadway leading men. Alene Robertson is spectacular as a brassy older broad.♦
To read a response, click here.
Berlin's songs are less sophisticated than Porter's and even simpler than then those of Rodgers; they seem effortless as they embody the feelings of average Americans. Listen to the poetry in the ballad sung by Jeff Coon in Act II:
How much do I love you? I'll tell you no lie.
How deep is the ocean? How high is the sky?
Simple. Only one word contains more than one syllable.
Audience sing-along
So attending Irving Berlin's White Christmas is a guilty pleasure. The show is superficial, corny and old-fashioned, but it sure is fun. This is an extravagant production with plenty of good music.
You've heard about shows where you come out of the theater humming the songs (if you're lucky.) Well, with White Christmas you walk into the theater humming them. When the leading characters, early in the show, start the title song, the audience spontaneously sings along.
This White Christmas is an expansion of the 1954 movie of the same name, which itself was a remembrance of the 1942 Berlin-Crosby-Astaire film, Holiday Inn, about song-and-dance men who buy an inn in New England. Jeffrey Coon as a crooner (reminiscent of Bing Crosby in the movie) and David Elder as a hoofer (like Fred Astaire) team up to present 17 excellent Irving Berlin songs.
Berlin in wartime
White Christmas also conjures memories (for me, at least) of Berlin's all-soldier wartime Broadway musical, This Is the Army, as it opens with Coon and Elder performing on a Pacific island during World War II. The soldiers wonder where they'll be in ten years, when the war will be long over, and the balance of the show fast-forwards to that future time.
This theatrical device reminded me of the stories I've heard from a friend who appeared in the original This Is the Army from 1942 to 1945: "The GIs thought they were going to see an accordion player and a broad shaking her ass. But we gave them an enormous show with 150 men." That was performed near battlefields in Italy, and Egypt and on tiny Pacific islands; earlier, This Is the Army played on Broadway and toured the U.S. with 300 men.
Julie Reiber and Vanessa Sonon are a singing sister act who become romantically involved with the guys. One is a sincere brunette, the other a pushy blonde "“ stereotypes, to be sure"“ and their characterizations are even sketchier than the men's. No matter: The players are vehicles for the music.
Highlights include a choreographic spectacle for "Blue Skies" and tap dancing on top of pianos during "I Love a Piano." The snowflakes falling from above during the finale aren't as spectacular as those of the Broadway revival in 2008, but in general the Walnut staging is gaudy. Director and choreographer Marc Robin does an excellent job. Coon and Elder are comparable to Broadway leading men. Alene Robertson is spectacular as a brassy older broad.♦
To read a response, click here.
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