Love and Christmas

Irving Berlin's White Christmas, the musical, is based on the Bing Crosby film, White Christmas which is itself a hybrid rehash/expansion of the Bing Crosby film Holiday Inn. That's a fairly complex pedigree for a show where the plot can — in all iterations — be boiled down to, "Hey, kids, let's put on a show to save this inn." In Irving Berlin's White Christmas, the inn is a lovely Vermont retreat owned by former U.S. Army general Henry Waverly. Business is suffering due to a lack of snow, and so the general's former troops, professional song-and-dancemen Bob and Phil, stage a big production at the inn to drum up business. Bob and Phil also work on developing romantic relationships with talented sisters Betty and Judy. It's a sentimental story that mainly serves as a delivery vector for twenty of Berlin's best-loved songs, including "I Love a Piano," "Sisters" and "The Best Things Happen When You're Dancing." Oh yeah, and "White Christmas," too. The touring version of the Broadway show dances its way into the Fox Theatre (527 North Grand Boulevard; 314-534-1111 or www.fabulousfox.com) Tuesday through Sunday (December 15 through 27; no performance on Christmas Day). Tickets are $30 to $82.
Tuesdays-Sundays; Dec. 26-27. Starts: Dec. 15. Continues through Dec. 24, 2009