Irving Berlin's WHITE CHRITMAS Reviews

Post 'em here!

I'd expect a lot of mixed-negative reviews on this one. Luckily for them - the tourists won't care, and many have already bought tickets.

Variety:

http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117939096.html?categoryid=33&cs=1

"More seasonal confection than full-bodied musical theater, it coasts along on the strength of its melodious numbers and sparkling visuals, which should suffice to keep the tourist trade happy."

The Associated Press is Negative:

'Using old songs in new musicals has been around for quite a while. George and Ira Gershwin classics supplied much of the fun in such shows as "My One and Only" in the early '80s and in "Crazy for You" a decade later. Four years ago, Jerome Kern melodies were used less successfully in "Never Gonna Dance."

Berlin's tunes are joyous creations, but the musical pleasures here exist in isolated moments, not as part of a dizzy, satisfying theatrical whole. You can tell the show has been cobbled together by committee and not exactly from the heart.'


Variety is Mixed:

'There hasn't been this much tap-dancing on a Broadway stage since "42nd Street." Yet despite its relentless effervescence, "Irving Berlin's White Christmas" is most alive in its gentler, more melancholy moments -- few as there are. Arriving in New York after multiple regional stops in the past four seasons, and aiming to establish itself as an annual holiday engagement, this somewhat mechanical show feels like a road production staffed with mostly second-tier talent. More seasonal confection than full-bodied musical theater, it coasts along on the strength of its melodious numbers and sparkling visuals, which should suffice to keep the tourist trade happy.'

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I gotta go along with Variety on this one. They hit the nail on the head, especially in regards to the unimaginative choreography.

Talkin' Broadway is Mixed-to-Positive:

'Criticizing director Walter Bobbie and librettists David Ives and Paul Blake, who have adapted Norman Krasna, Norman Panama, and Melvin Frank’s screenplay, for not fashioning even a barely integrated evening of the kind Rodgers and Hammerstein favored is thus beside the point: They weren’t trying to. So if your idea of musical-theatre fun is logical dramatic construction, complex characters, and songs and dances deriving from something other than thin November air, you’re better off spending your time and money at the infinitely more nuanced Grease or Spamalot.

But if you’re capable of viewing this as just another limited-run seasonal spectacle à la Cirque du Soleil’s Wintuk or the Radio City Christmas Spectacular, you’ll probably be able to coerce yourself and your family into having a decent time. It may be black-ice slick, but it judiciously compensates for much of what it so severely lacks with suitably old-fashioned components that only the grinchiest scrooge will be able to resist.'

http://www.talkinbroadway.com/world/WChristmas.html

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The New York Times (with Charles Isherwood reviewing) is Very Negative:

'The Broadway veteran Mr. Bogardus is a sensitive singer with a light, clear voice nicely suited to the crystalline charms of Berlin’s lyrics. He leads the Act I tap finale, “Blue Skies,” and makes fine use of a solo spot on the sublime “How Deep Is the Ocean.” That number, paired with Ms. O’Malley’s torchy “Love, You Didn’t Do Right by Me” in a scene set at a New York nightclub, is the evening’s vocal highlight.

Mr. Denman, lanky and lithe, dances with sleek facility in the airborne Astaire style. He opens the second act leading a buoyant production number set to “I Love a Piano.” (The colorful, spangly sets are by Anna Louizos.) With less to do, Ms. Patterson is, well, there. And blond.

But the leading roles are really just place holders for star personalities, and none of the principals brings much in the way of wattage to their assignments. The romantic heat generated by both couples put together wouldn’t melt a snowflake.

The book, by David Ives, the serial adapter of the revivals in the Encores! series, and Paul Blake, is equal parts corn and syrup. Much of the wheezy humor is handled by Susan Mansur as Martha Watson, the ex-general’s wisecracky, lovable aide-de-camp at the inn. In exasperated mode Ms. Mansur tosses off such witticisms as “You can shove it up your vacuum cleaner and turn it on high.” Fear of sugar shock precludes me from describing some of the cloying business entrusted to the able young Melody Hollis, who plays the general’s showbiz-smitten granddaughter.'

http://theater2.nytimes.com/2008/11/24/theater/reviews/24whit.html

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Updated On: 11/23/08 at 10:23 PM

Just got back from the opening ......
FLUFF - - - but I still thought it was delightful!

I too was there tonight and, like kooky said, it was total fluff but I enjoyed it.

REVIEW ROUNDUP

Philadelphia Inquirer
Rave

Wall Street Journal
Very Positive

AM New York
Daily News
NY1
Positive

John Simon
Mixed-to-Positive

Newsday
USA Today
Variety
Mixed

Bergen Record
New York Post
Mixed-to-Negative

Associated Press
Time Out New York
Negative

New York Times
Very Negative

Journal News
Pan

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Updated On: 11/30/08 at 11:41 PM

I'd call Isherwood's review Mixed-Negative.

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John Simon is Mixed-to-Positive:

'You might think that great songs can salvage anything, but many of the songs here are lesser Berlin. Still, there are those marvelously evocative Louizos sets and dazzlingly outrageous Robbins costumes for us to feast on. And Skinner’s clever dances, which, with far more limited personnel, still manage to lustily evoke the grandeur of Busby Berkeley and glory of Hermes Pan.

Walter Bobbie’s staging, like Ken Billington’s lighting, also suits the material. Whenever the plot is not excessively in evidence, “Irving Berlin’s White Christmas” makes for a bright evening.'

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601098&sid=agnYE3J4XX98&refer=movie

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Jacobtsf: I've disagreed plenty with Murray. Yet he raved over two of my favorite shows of the past few seasons, YANK! and PASSING STRANGE.

And I've agreed with Isherwood in the past. But not this time.

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