If safe and pretty holiday entertainment (see previous post) rings your sleigh bells, then "Irving Berlin's White Christmas" at the 5th Avenue Theatre is very much your cup of nog. It is merry. It is bright. It has those hummable tunes. And it has a strong cast that will almost make you forget Bing Crosby and Rosemary Clooney.This is the 5th Avenue's second mounting of the stage production about two song-and-dance men who come to the aid of their former commanding officer. Based on the 1954 movie "White Christmas" (which borrowed liberally from the 1942 movie "Holiday Inn"), it has many of the same cast members, but I vaguely remember being only mildly impressed in 2006. (I didn't write about it then, so I have only a fuzzy memory to fall back on.)
Trust this, however: The 2009 version is a pleasure -- largely thanks to two performers who weren't in the 2006 production. Not to detract from the efforts of Michael Gruber (in the Crosby role of Bob Wallace), Christina Saffran Ashford (in the Clooney role of Betty Haynes) and Greg McCormick Allen (in the Danny Kaye role of Phil Davis). They're all sensational, Ashford in particular as the Haynes sister who at first doesn't want to like Wallace, then loves him, then loathes him, and so on.
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