WHITE CHRISTMAS
***** (out of five)
Festival Theatre, 2 hours 35 minutes, one intermission. Ends Dec. 21. Music and lyrics by Irving Berlin. Book by David Ives and Paul Blake. Based on the Paramount Pictures film written by Norman Krasna, Norman Panama and Melvin Frank. Directed by Kate Hennig.

If we believe that theatre must be a living, evolving thing, then take comfort, this chestnut is burning brightly over the yule log fire.

Sparks fly the instant the Shaw Orchestra strikes into “I’m dreaming of a White Christmas” and rapidly segues from pop to jazz to swing.

We’re enveloped in a nostalgic flame of time and place. It’s the Second World War, Christmas Eve, 1944 and battle-weary American soldiers on the front are longing to be home with their loved ones.

Capt. Bob Wallace (Jeff Irving) and Pte. Phil Davis (Kevin McLachlan) lead a buoyant “Happy Holidays.” It fades to “White Christmas,” the most requested song on American Armed Forces Radio. Released in 1942, it remains the most popular Christmas song of all time.

Ten years later, in 1954, the now-famous Wallace and Davis appear on the Ed Sullivan Show. For those of us once glued to the telly Sunday nights, we are reminded of simpler corporate sponsorships as two leggy models giggle and wiggle across the stage as Oxydol boxes. As a family variety show, Sullivan’s soft spot was more Topo Gigio, the Italian mouse puppet, than Elvis’ hip gyrations.

Davis and Wallace’s upcoming gig in Florida is sidetracked by an army pal’s request that they catch the act of his singing sisters, Betty and Judy Haynes.

Once Phil lays eyes on Judy (a sizzling Mary Antonini), the train tickets to Florida are replaced by tickets to Pinetree, Vt., where the sisters are booked for Christmas at the Columbia Inn. A smitten Phil hopes Bob will be enamoured by and marry Betty (Camille Eanga-Selenge). This does not look promising.

The train ride to Vermont has the ensemble crammed into one car, fully anticipating and enthusiastically singing “Snow” as they head north to ski, skate and holiday. On learning there is no snow but a December heat wave in Vermont, one couple decamps for Saskatchewan.

The show will go on despite cancellations at the near-bankrupt Inn owned by Gen. Tom Waverly, Davis and Wallace’s former Army commander. As Waverly, David Keeley deftly balances tough and tender. His “concierge,” bookkeeper and nosey switchboard operator, Martha Watson (Jenni Burke), is his sassy foil who holds her own.

Vivienne Atwood as Susan, the general’s visiting California granddaughter, exhibits a confidence and métier beyond her years. Jason Cadieux captures the taciturn individualism of the Vermont handyman, saying little but “Ah, yup” and then charming us with a little breakout tap dance.

Why is this production so satisfying? Irving Berlin’s songs are pure genius. The orchestra sweeps and swirls us along. We unabashedly sing on request. Imaginative lighting and sets shift swiftly. The dancing is spectacular with terrific choreography designed by Allison Plamondon.

The 1950s costumes of Judith Bowden are fast changing and wonderfully colour coordinated with her set designs. “Blue Skies” features Jeff Irving and the ensemble costumed in blue suits and hats dancing beneath and between clouds.

Kevin McLachlan and Mary Antonini radiate chemistry together and with the Ensemble passionately tap dance over the giant keyboard of “I Love a Piano.”

Jeff Irving as the cool, contained Bob transitions into meltdown, and so do we, as he succumbs to his feelings for Betty singing “How Deep Is the Ocean.” More emotion was required of Camille Eanga-Selenge’s Betty. Her withheld response to Bob and her big solo in the Regency Room were empty of torch believability.

“White Christmas” is a thin plot on stage and screen, carrying big music and production values. The play is up against the memorable 1954 film cast of Bing Crosby, Rosemary Clooney, Danny Kaye and Vera-Ellen, directed by the brilliant Michael Curtiz of “Casablanca” and “Mildred Pierce.”

Nonetheless, this production, directed by the experienced Kate Hennig, succeeds because it convincingly reminds us, in these troubled times, that love, friendship, respect, compassion, community and generosity of spirit and giving are what matter.

And yes, it does snow and it is no longer asbestos flakes. And yes, we do receive a lot of love to keep us warm.

Penny-Lynn Cookson is an arts and culture historian, writer and lecturer living in Niagara-on-the-Lake.