Broadway's staged version of
Irving Berlin's White Christmas!
There have been many reincarnations of this show,
starting in 2000 in St. Louis, MO.
It made it to Broadway in 2008
with Jeffry Denman, Meredith Paterson, Kerri O'Malley,
and Stephen Bogardus.
(BTW, I want that hat!!!)
Prior to its Broadway opening,
it hit San Francisco (2004)
where Brian d'Arcy James entered the cast
(as Bob Wallace).
David Ogden Stiers became General Waverly for a time.
You may remember David from M.A.S.H.
in which he played Major Charles Winchester III.
(He passed away in March of this year, age 75.)
David below with Ruth Williamson.
Brian and Jeffry share a "moment."
Broadway critics remained unimpressed,
but this staged version has had several successful tours,
in the U.S., the West End, and Australia.
Hard NOT to succeed with the great music of Berlin!
The 1954 Paramount movie musical
is a classic,
based on ANOTHER classic, Holiday Inn, 1942.
Rosemary Clooney and Vera-Ellen, above,
in gorgeous Vista-Vision/Technicolor blue!
Directed by Michael Curtiz,
and choreography by Robert Alton
(The Harvey Girls, Anything Goes, DuBarry Was A Lady, Pal Joey, et.al.).
Robert was the one to supposedly "discover" Gene Kelly.
Irving originally wrote "A Singer, A Dancer"
when Fred Astaire was set to co-star with Bing,
but when that didn't happen
and Donald O'Connor entered the picture as Phil Davis,
he changed it to "A Crooner, A Comic."
When O'Connor left the picture, due to illness,
"so did the song!"
The "Minstrel Show" scene,
which also incorporated "Mr. Bones" and "Mandy"!
What incredible color!
That's John Brascia in green, who partnered with Vera-Ellen
in several dances.
"Snow" started out as "Free",
written originally for Call Me Madam!
Re-tooled with new lyrics,
it became a quartet on the way to Maine.
Two sound tracks were made of the movie,
and recording contracts made those sound tracks subtly different
from each other.
from each other.
On the Decca version,
the "sisters" songs were sung by Rosemary and her real life sister,
Betty.
On the Columbia version,
where Rosemary did NOT have a contract,
both Haynes Sisters were voiced by Peggy Lee.
A successful movie has plenty of merch, right?
White Christmas was the top money maker of 1954,
so why shouldn't there be paper dolls of
The Haynes Sisters?
The NY Times wasn't impressed, however (are they ever?):
"The colors on the big screen are rich and luminous,
the images are clear and sharp.
Director Michael Curtiz has made his picture look good.
It is too bad
that it doesn’t hit the eardrums
and the funnybone with equal force."
Jeez.
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