White Christmas (Crucible, Sheffield)
Verdict: The Dream is on
The House With Chicken Legs (Queen Elizabeth Hall, London)
Verdict: Lovably oddball
According to the Met Office, most of us have at least another 12 months of dreaming of a white Christmas ahead of us. And yet we still have some reasons to be cheerful this year, thanks to a dream production of Irving Berlin’s yuletide warmer in Sheffield.
Don’t think that’s easy, either. This is a musical with a decidedly sketchy plot that can easily turn to slush. But the story’s shortcomings are breezily swept aside in Paul Foster’s twinkle-toed production.
The show fizzes from the start, as our ex-U.S. Army variety act Bob and Phil (Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye in the film version) meet showgirl sisters Judy and Betty, and follow them to an unseasonably warm, snow-free Vermont for Christmas.
Here, the boys run into their beloved-but-belligerent WWII general, Hank Waverly, and resolve to save his failing ski resort by staging a full-scale Broadway beano.
Songs including Count Your Blessings are shamelessly saccharine, and other numbers seem like Berlin’s odds and ends. But who cares when the completely extraneous I Love A Piano cues a huge, tumultuous full-company tap dance with everyone dressed like keyboards?
The show fizzes from the start, as our ex-U.S. Army variety act Bob and Phil (Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye in the film version) meet showgirl sisters Judy and Betty, and follow them to an unseasonably warm, snow-free Vermont for Christmas
Songs including Count Your Blessings are shamelessly saccharine, and other numbers seem like Berlin’s odds and ends
Falling In And Out Of Love Can Be Fun is a perfect pick-me up for seasonal lonely hearts, and of course the title tune is make-believe with tinsel on top (even if it triggers flashbacks to Muzak in shop queues pre-Christmas).
A terrific cast ensure everything runs like clockwork, with George Blagden’s workaholic showman Bob suitably stuffy… and just waiting to be brought to heel by Grace Mouat’s no-nonsense Betty.
Natasha Mould, as Betty’s show-partner Judy, is a squeaky living doll, while Sandra Marvin, as concierge ‘Megaphone Martha’, adds decibels to her turns.
But the hallmark of the show’s success is that at the matinee I caught this week, Danny Collins had to step in for his first performance as understudy in the leading role of fun-loving, philandering Phil (covering an indisposed Stuart Neal)… and if you didn’t know, you’d never have known. Cheeky and charming, Collins was as light on his feet as a squirrel and sang like a willow warbler. If I was Neal, I’d fear for my job.
By comparison, The House With Chicken Legs is as ungainly as the title suggests — but it’s still a lovably oddball children’s show that parents can enjoy, too.
Based on Sophie Anderson’s novel for young people, it’s the tale of Marinka, who lives in the chicken-legged house with an eccentric ‘Baba Yaga’ witch, who guides the souls of the dead to the next world. The story is really a coming-of-age yarn, as plucky Marinka learns to stand on her own two (human) feet.
Based on Sophie Anderson’s novel for young people, it’s the tale of Marinka, who lives in the chicken-legged house with an eccentric ‘Baba Yaga’ witch, who guides the souls of the dead to the next world
The loveliest part of it is Alexander Wolfe’s East European-style klezmer music featuring squeezebox, violin, and drums — plus a xylophone-like instrument whose name I can’t quite marimba.
Although Oliver Lansley and James Seager’s over-long production labours with huge clunky, cartoon houses that need shunting about the stage, it’s full of seasonal cheer.
As Marinka, Eve De Leon Allen is a wide-eyed innocent who’s also a tenacious creature with a bright, strawberry voice. And Dan Willis adds airborne mischief, operating the puppet of her faithful, feathery-friend Jackdaw to make sure it’s kooky but cute.
Jack And The Beanstalk (Broadway Theatre, London)
Verdict: Family fun
Suzie McKenna is responsible for the Hackney Empire’s sparkling pantos for two decades, and now plies her trade as writer/director of Jack And The Beanstalk across the Thames at the recently restored Broadway in Catford, an Art Deco beauty.
Derek Elroy leads the cast as Dame Dolores Trott in her reworked story — there’s a Queen Bee (Siobhan Athwal) to remind us how important bees are, and a Scarecrow (Wayne Rollins) — but McKenna includes several traditional elements, too.
It’s a family show; Durone Stokes is a sweet-natured Jack and there’s little rudery (although the cheeky interplay between the Dame and Scarecrow keeps the grown-ups entertained), and Caroline the Cow is just lovely. McKenna throws in a few political gags — the baddie is Boris the Flying Cockroach (Ben Fox) and the audience are encouraged to shout ‘lying cockroach’ whenever he appears.
