Singing along to Irving Berlin’s White Christmas is not encouraged until the very end of the show, but it’s hard not to join in as the title song kicks off. Based on the 1954 movie starring the legendary Bing Crosby, this cracker of a Christmas show glistens with irresistible, snow-topped charm.
Danny Mac’s velvety voice leads the sparkling musical of love and war, reprising his role from the production’s original performance in Leicester last year. He and Dan Burton are impishly suave as gallant former soldiers turned famous performers, Bob Wallace and Phil Davis, who are searching for a new act for their New York variety show. Their infectious camaraderie is matched by the fizzing charisma of up-and-coming sister act Betty and Judy Haynes (Danielle Hope and Clare Halse), who woo the lads with their flirty, blue-feathered performance of Sisters.
David Ives’s book streamlines the plot, so that the women are quickly swept up in a flurry of romance, tap-dance and switched train tickets. The audience are distracted from any loss of subtlety by Michael Taylor’s glittering celestial set and Stephen Mear’s slick, playful choreography. Following the Haynes sisters to Vermont, the men find themselves at the inn of their kind old General (Michael Brandon) during the second world war. He is somewhat shrunken from the man they once knew, and they hatch an elaborate plan to show him how valued he is.
Next to the glitz and jazz-hands glamour of Nikolai Foster’s production – and there’s lots as concierge Martha Watson (Brenda Edwards) soaks up the cheers after a firecracker performance of Let Me Sing and I’m Happy – is a focus on generosity and appreciation. The production takes its time on tenderness, with the focus of Bob’s lullaby Count Your Blessings Instead of Sheep directed at the General’s young granddaughter, Susan, who can’t sleep. In the film Bob sings it to Betty, but here Betty tiptoes in and listens as the little girl drifts to sleep, Bob’s cynicism undone by his kindness. Quiet moments such as this make the sexy razzmatazz of Blue Skies and I Love a Piano even more exhilarating.
There are few surprises and it wouldn’t scrape past the Bechdel test, but White Christmas still has us beaming throughout. Count Your Blessings passes from mouth to mouth, and the show frames love and music as the best possible gifts you can give.
•At Dominion theatre, London, until 4 January.
