It’s always a “White Christmas” somewhere in Chicagoland.
I’ve kept a diary, potentially incomplete. Marriott staged this show in Lincolnshire last year. Drury Lane in both 2021 (although a slightly different version) and 2015 (starring Sean Allen Krill, now on Broadway in “Chess,” and Erica Stephan, currently in “Amadeus” at Steppenwolf). A downtown tour in 2017. Marriott Lincolnshire in 2011. A different downtown tour in 2010. You get the idea. I saw a Broadway production in there somewhere, too.
Always with the general, the soldiers, the barn, the showfolk and the snow.
This year, it’s the turn of the Paramount Theatre in Aurora to stage the musical version of the 1954 VistaVision movie with Danny Kaye, Rosemary Clooney, Vera-Ellen and Bing Crosby, as souped up by various additions from the venerable Irving Berlin catalog. For years, I’ve refused to write “Irving Berlin’s White Christmas” (although that is the official title of the show created in 2000 for the Tony Award-winning Muny in St. Louis) as I see that as an example of estate-creep, where every composer’s grandkids want to stick a name in front of the actual title and force everyone to comply. But, for the record, it’s “Irving Berlin’s White Christmas,” technically.
Certainly in musical reality, too, Berlin numbers here include “Blue Skies,” “I Love a Piano,” “Sisters,” “Count Your Blessings (Instead of Sheep),” “I’ve Got My Love to Keep Me Warm” and other ditties from the 1,500 songs the prolific Irving Berlin wrote. The plot (I mean, why bother?) features three romantic duos starring folks with the urge to merge: a double act hoping to couple with a sister act and an old general who suddenly discovers the woman who has kept his inn warm all these years. So to speak.
Were you not generous enough to be reading me, you could have looked much of that up in this era of artificial intelligence, shudder. But not the eye-witness account of what transpired in Aurora, where I can report a stellar “White Christmas” directed by the longtime Chicago actor-turned-director Stephen Schellhardt. So much so, in fact, that I first cut and pasted my customary three-star review (it’s invariable a sweet show) and added another demi-stella.
Why? For one thing, the whole “White Christmas” experience is just better in a historic venue like the Paramount with the room and the budget (for now, anyway) for a full-sized, 15-piece orchestra. Second, I really liked Jeffrey D. Kmiec’s exceedingly classy design, which put me in mind of Derek McLane’s work on “Just in Time” on Broadway. Thirdly, in a show that generally is very well sung by the likes of Evan C. Dolan, Sophie Grimm and Jessie J. Potter, there is a vocally thrilling performance from Alex Syiek as Bob Wallace, which is the core role here. Syiek booms out “How Deep is the Ocean” (always a weird metaphor in this particular show) with sufficiently questioning excitement for seasonal goose bumps.
Fourth, David Girolmo plays the grumpy old General like he’s playing George S. Patton, and that’s the mechanism to deliver the show’s message about selflessness at Christmas. We will overlook how all these soldiers get to rural Vermont on Christmas with like a day’s notice. Heck of a big inn, I always think.
And yes, it snows. There’s a nice little Kmiec trick to roll out some digital flakes to make you think the theater is dodging this most serious of responsibilities, only for the magical Paramount ceiling to function like its original architects intended, as a dispenser of delight.
Paramount has had a rough few months, battling for funding with the previously supportive City of Aurora. The end of such affordable tickets and concession prices is a likely consequence.
After the show, I walked around a little. There was only one block downtown that was brightly illuminated and filled with families, only one block spilling out happy suburban folks of all stripes, only one block with pedestrian traffic, some of which was walking toward a restaurant or two. Aurora puts this at risk at the city’s peril.
Chris Jones is a Tribune critic.
Review: “White Christmas” (3.5 stars)
When: Through Dec. 29
Where: Paramount Theatre, 23 E. Galena Blvd., Aurora
Running time: 2 hours, 20 minutes
Tickets: $47-$122 at 630-896-6666 and www.paramountaurora.com
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