When I’m worried and I can’t sleep, I count my blessings instead of sheep— blessings like the return of live, in-person theatre. Blessings like Christmas time together with family and friends again. Blessings like Toby’s Dinner Theatre bringing Irving Berlin’s White Christmas back to their stage after a decade of waiting for all that snow, Snow, SNOW!! The perfect way to kick off the holiday season, whatever joyous holiday you happen to celebrate this November and December, Toby’s holiday offering is an abundant evening of heartwarming joy. Directed by Mark Minnick with Musical Direction by Ross Scott Rawlings and Choreography by Christen Svingos, this classic musical theatre soiree is perfect for families, friends, and everyone of all ages. It’s the gleeful holiday happiness everyone needs at this time of year.
The intimate, in-the-round staging at Toby’s has yet to produce a challenge that resident Scenic Designer David Hopkins can’t tackle. And the subtle but strategically gorgeous winch-worked wooden beams that are arched down from the ceiling for scenes inside The Columbia Inn in Pinetree, Vermont (and lowered further still to their flattened suspended position to differentiate between the rustic inn and the barn outback) really put a charming touch on the show’s scenery. Working in tandem with Lighting Designer Lynn Joslin, Hopkins puts functional scenic-lighting pieces into play as well, the most notable of which is the lighted staircase, which can flash holiday reds and greens or moody blues or even patriotic red, white, and blues depending on the musical number or standing scene. The attention to detail in Hopkins’ work— like the carpet runner with the antique patterning that goes up the main Inn staircase— is complimented by Joslin’s overall mood lighting. And the show’s finally features some pretty spectacular lighting, projection, and scenic work— all to be discovered because nobody wants the fabulous Christmas ending spoiled! Praises all round to these two masters of the house when it comes to scenery and lighting design work.
The aesthetic shining glory of the production is in the vibrant and vivacious costumes, coordinated, designed, and outfitted by Costume Designer Janine Sunday. While every Christmas show is expected to feature reds and greens, White Christmas has a high bar for festive frippery, particularly when it comes to the dancing ensemble throughout. While the 50’s era swing-line dresses, adorned with enormous appliqué ornament balls (featured during “Happy Holiday/Let Yourself Go”) are truly hallmarks of the production (right alongside Rita & Rota’s Oxydol Box Costumes and their ‘Christmas Tree’ ensembles) the real magic is in the dancers outfits seen in the second act. The buttress bows of black and white stripe with matching fascinators for the ladies and vests on the male dancers during “I Love a Piano” just tie the whole number together as they reflect the ‘ivories’ (the keys of a piano) in this sleek look. The blue and silver affair seen on Bob Wallace for “Blue Skies” is quite the match to the number as well. Sunday finds flattering costumes that fit the character, the seasonal spirit of the show, and the actor themselves. This is particularly true of the stunning and elegant black evening gown her character is wearing during “Love, You Didn’t Do Right By Me” and the festive green shirts seen on Wallace and Davis during “Happy Holiday/Let Yourself Go”, as that particular color compliments both actors complexions in an extremely flattering fashion. The whole sartorial selection for the show is really sensational; Sunday’s hard work and exquisite tastes are well-represented in this production.
With 18 voices echoing peels of holiday glee all throughout the rafters its obvious that it’s Musical Director Ross Scott Rawlings at the helm. Beautifully blended harmonies resonate all throughout the musical numbers and tricky three-part harmonies during trios like “Falling Out of Love Can Be Fun” are masterfully handled in the skilled and seasoned hands of Rawlings. White Christmas is built on a series of duets, be it Betty and Judy, Bob and Phil, or each of the leading gents and their respective leading ladies, Rawlings ensures perfect blends every time a duet occurs. The classic 40’s & 50’s sound isn’t one that easy to capture but Rawlings brings those dulcet tones of a simpler time gone by to the forefront of duets like “Sisters” and “Love and the Weather.”
As an iconic dance musical, Choreographer Christen Svingos’ dance work is a superb fit for the show, particularly with all of the intensive tap-routines. The mega-dance routine— “I Love a Piano” features some of the most intricate and invested tap moves in the entire performance. There’s a marching-kick pinwheel that fans out into a spin-line and the whole routine is polished with finesse and flare. Svingos utilizes her dancing ensemble (Quadry Brown, Brandon Bedore, Amanda Kaplan, Rachel Kemp Whittenberger, Alexis Kray, Patricia Targete, Brook Urquhart, AJ Whittenberger) well, keeping them in step and in-sync with both the tempo of the music and the style of the time. There’s an overall joy felt in the dance routines and its infectious; makes you want to swing along and tap your toes in the audience.
Director Mark Minnick brings a professional polish to the performance, really unearthing three-dimensional characters in these monolithic caricature types. The Bob Wallace character (originated on the silver screen by Bing Crosby) is cold and often closed off with an icy sharpness that makes him disagreeable and times dislikable, but Minnick encourages actor Jeffrey Shankle to take a softer approach, particularly in warm scenes with Susan Waverly (granddaughter of the general). This human focus, rather than playing to the written stereotype, allows for a more engaging performance across the board, particularly when it comes to some of the ‘love’ and ‘meet-cute’ moments between Bob Wallace and Betty Haynes. Storytelling is at the forefront of the production, followed closely by brilliant singing and dancing, making Minnick a well-rounded director, perfect for the project.
What’s a great musical number without its ensemble? And while they’ve already been praised for their stellar singing and dancing capabilities, there are some among them who certainly deserve extra nods of praise, like Amanda Kaplan (who gets a scripted credit of ‘Mrs. Snoring Woman’.) With a voice as crystal clear as the snow she’s singing about, during the fun and cheerful number, “Snow”, she bounces up from her train-car seat with such a vibrancy that you can feel the joy of Christmas ringing through her like bells on Christmas morning. And who could forget our delightfully dippy show girls, Rita (Patricia Targete) and Rhoda (Alexis Krey)? Targete and Krey are a real squeal when it comes to playing the hilarious ‘chorus girl’ types, filling out all the stereotypes that accompany those characters from that time in dance-musical history. Full of giggles and high-pitched squeaks, Targete and Krey (who double up as dancing ensemble all throughout the performance) are excellent comic additions to the performance.
Is that Shawn Kettering playing Ezekiel Foster? Ayup. In one of the more subtly humorous roles, Kettering excels at finding the deadpan delivery, bringing chuckles and laughs from the audience every time he delivers his monosyllabic catchphrase. But the more impressive thing about Kettering’s performance (which ironically is not his bold and beautiful featured before he dons the cap of the Ezekiel character during “Snow” as Mr. Snoring Man) is his Vermont accent. There are a few moments where the character is gifted more than his one-worded ‘Ayup’ and when he speaks the flawless maple-sapped sound you might expect of a life-long Pinetree, VT resident comes flowing out of his mouth, smooth as syrup. And his callback to “I Love a Piano” isn’t too shabby either.
Really transforming the character of the ‘stage manager’ Mike Nulty, DeCarlo Raspberry brings an ecstatic level of chaos to the character which reads beautifully in his physicality as well as his facial expressions. While the audience doesn’t get a proper introduction to the character until after Wallace and Davis are fully settled into Pinetree, Vermont, you’ll feel as if Raspberry’s stage manager character has been there orchestrating things all along. But there’s versatility in the over-the-top meltdowns that Raspberry gives to Mike Nulty too. When he has interactions with Susan (rotated among three stellar young performers— at this production, Nina Brothers), they are adorable and supportive, which stands in direct contrast to his more bombastic outbursts at the adult performers as he tries to mount a ‘Broadway quality show. In a barn. In just five days!’
You want a million-dollar proposition? You’ve found it in actor Justin Calhoun who slides like eggnog into the role of Ralph Sheldrake. An underrated character, though from a broader plot-perspective an intrinsic and essential one, the Sheldrake fella is the cause of all the calamity! Well, Martha is the cause of the calamity because she completely misinterprets the sleek Sheldrake ‘showbiz talk’, which Calhoun delivers masterfully. While you only get a bit of Calhoun’s delightful voice in song early during “Happy Holiday” and “White Christmas”, you get all the fun of his charming show-biz attitude in his scenes once time has passed and the war has ended. More than memorable, Calhoun finds an inobtrusive way to invite the audience to enjoy his character, minor though the role may seem to be.
The whole crux of the plot ends up revolving around a retired four-star General (Robert Biedermann), who whether he can admit it or not, finds himself in a little bit of a pickle up in Pinetree, Vermont at his bed and breakfast style inn. While the General Henry Waverly character doesn’t do much solo singing, that doesn’t stop Robert Biedermann from shining in his own right. There is a striking, heartfelt moment toward the end of the production where Biedermann addresses the men (which includes the audience as they ‘become’ part of the 151st division) in a ‘Christmas of 1954’ speech and it just tugs at the heartstring with honesty and sincerity right from the bottom of Biedermann’s heart. The General’s counterpart— Martha Watson (Jane C. Boyle) is quite a pistol to be getting on with herself. Snappy and just a little sassy when it comes to clapping back at The General, she keeps the Inn shipshape in addition to unloading a little musical theatre surprise of her own on the show. Boyle, whose character turns out to be a former, albeit failed, Broadway star, puts some panache along with some fun movement moves into both her musical numbers, “Let Me Sing and I’m Happy” and “Falling Out of Love Can Be Fun.” The pair, when they bicker back and forth, and get chased about during the act one finale, are quite the fun couple to observe on stage, even though The General and Martha aren’t married.
Bob & Better and Phil & Judy. Or Wallace & Davis and The Haynes Sisters. Anyway you slice it there are four leading characters whose stories wander all over the map from New York to Vermont and back during White Christmas and director Mark Minnick has made some fine choices in the actors he has selected to fill them out. Bob Wallace (Jeffrey Shankle) and Phil Davis (David James) are the cheeky charmers of song and dance. And they’re true song and dance men so be prepared to get some great songs and some thrilling dances. While Shankle’s Bob Wallace isn’t a complete frosted glass, he’s got his cold moments, which are slightly snarky— a good mark of the times— and clean cut, which make his more warming moments truly earnest and enjoyable. James’ Phil Davis is just a barrel of laughs and oversexed charm, all mild-mannered as the show is family-friendly, of course. And when the pair of them perform together you would truly believe they were old war buddies, old chums who’ve had each other’s backs for years. Their rendition of “Sisters (Reprise)” is absolutely hysterical.
James’ Phil Davis is the dancer supreme in this production; “I Love a Piano” showcases his tremendous skills as a tap-dancer, particularly when it comes to tapping while seated, still flawlessly executing the rhythms and motions of the move in sync and time to the music. You get another stunning dance showcase out of James alongside the ensemble and his other half Judy Haynes (Alicia Osbourne) during “The Best Things Happen While You’re Dancing” and you get a chance to hear his warm and welcoming vocals. Osbourne, as the bubblier of the two Haynes sisters, is the epitome of a 1950’s showgirl. With her practiced facial expressions mirroring those of the iconic stars of the times, you’ll find yourself completely transported by her performance back to that bygone era. With a bright voice that pairs nicely with both the Phil Davis character and her sister character of Betty Haynes, Osbourne is a shining and welcome addition to the cast this Christmas season.
There’s something marvelous about the way Betty Haynes (Janine Sunday) blows hot and cold, on and off, up and down, all throughout the performance when it comes to Bob Wallace (Jeffrey Shankle) and the general notions of romance. Sunday gives a brilliant performance in this difficult role, finding the balance between cautious show-girl who wants her big break and a woman still harboring hope in her heart for love. When she hits the stage in that elegant black dress for “Love, You Didn’t Do Right By Me” Sunday stops time, drifts the audience back to 1954 in ‘The Regency Room’ with her smoldering, subdued voice, and gives everyone a flavor of the golden era of show-biz. The two play extremely well together, even their opening awkward conversation is delightfully hilarious. Sunday has a sizzling brass sound at the back of her throat that really serves her ‘absent-duet’ (where she sings half the song and Shankle sings the other, without either character realizing they’re singing the same song) “Love and the Weather.”
Jeffrey Shankle as Bob Wallace brings his own charm and warm, sonorous voice to the performance. He sparkles like freshly fallen snow during “Blue Skies”, which serves as the act one finale, and when he croons “Count Your Blessings Instead of Sheep”, Shankle transforms it into a comforting lullaby for Susan. The banter that Shankle and Sunday develop, bickering and biting, apologizing and adoring one another, has an authentic feel to it; both Shankle and Sunday have a powerful hand on speaking in the style of the time. And Shankle’s brotherly back-and-forth with David James’ Phil Davis is also spot-on when it comes to timing and delivery. It’s a well-rounded quartet of shimmering, shining Christmas stars— David James, Alicia Osbourne, Jeffrey Shankle, and Janine Sunday— that really put the ‘merry and bright’ into this White Christmas production.
So get your boots, gloves, hats, scarves (or shorts and sunglasses if the weather continues to stay this unseasonable here in Maryland) and hurry on down to Toby’s Dinner Theatre this Christmas season! Per usual, they’re booking up fast and have quite a few sold-out dates already and you won’t want to miss your chance for a little Christmas miracle this season.
Running Time: 2 hours and 35 minutes with one intermission
White Christmas plays through January 9, 2022 at Toby’s the Dinner Theatre of Columbia— 5900 Symphony Woods Road in Columbia, MD. For tickets please call (410) 730-8311 or purchase them online.
