<\/p>\n
Choreographer Kelli Barclay<\/a> has been involved with nearly a dozen Goodspeed shows. She was the associate choreographer for \u201cLucky in the Rain\u201d in 1997, \u201cGeorge M!\u201d in 2000, and \u201cThe Will Rogers Follies\u201d in 2018. In 2011, she choreographed both \u201cMy One and Only\u201d at the Goodspeed Opera House<\/a> and \u201cHello My Baby!\u201d at Goodspeed\u2019s Terris Theater in Chester. Her high-water mark might\u2019ve been the exhilaratingly long, full ensemble tap dance that ended the first act of \u201cAnything Goes\u201d at the Goodspeed Opera House in 2016.<\/p>\n \u201cWhite Christmas\u201d is a show that\u2019s particularly close to Barclay\u2019s dance-beating heart. She was the associate choreographer and dance captain as well as a swing performer in the original Broadway production in 2009. Now she\u2019s choreographing the production running at the Goodspeed Opera House from Nov. 14 through Dec. 28.<\/p>\n It was Goodspeed artistic director Donna Lynn Hilton who invited Barclay back after the Goodspeed\u2019s scheduled premiere of a stage adaptation of the TV movie \u201cMrs. Santa Clause\u201d was canceled.<\/p>\n \u201cDonna Lynn said \u2018I want you to have your own White Christmas,\u2019\u201d said Barclay, who is being teamed with director Hunter Foster for the production. Foster\u2019s previous holiday shows for Goodspeed Musicals include \u201cA Christmas Story\u201d and \u201cA Connecticut Christmas Carol.\u201d<\/p>\n Goodspeed Musicals\u2019 2026 season features a rock opera, a comic strip icon and a world premiere<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cWe had to hustle,\u201d Barclay said. The prep time was shortened since they were replacing a canceled show. \u201cI\u2019m so glad Hunter is directing. He\u2019s a great director.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhite Christmas\u201d is one of those shows that feels like a timeless Broadway musical from the 1930s, but it\u2019s not. It was a 1954 movie starring Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye and Rosemary Clooney, evoking the classic Hollywood musicals of the \u201830s and \u201840s. It didn\u2019t become a stage show until 2000, when The Muny \u2014 a St. Louis, Missouri theater also dedicated to American musical theater classics, revivals and new works \u2014 held its world premiere with Barclay assisting choreographer Randy Skinner. When The Muny revived its production of \u201cWhite Christmas\u201d in 2006, Barclay was the choreographer recreating Skinner\u2019s earlier work.<\/p>\n Besides the classic title song, the hit Irving Berlin songs in the stage version of \u201cWhite Christmas\u201d include \u201cLet Yourself Go,\u201d \u201cLet Me Sing and I\u2019m Happy,\u201d \u201cBlue Skies,\u201d \u201cI Love a Piano,\u201d \u201cHow Deep is the Ocean\u201d and \u201cI\u2019ve Got My Love to Keep Me Warm.\u201d<\/p>\n Barclay explained that there are many differences between the original film version of \u201cWhite Christmas\u201d and its stage adaptation. \u201cWhen people think of the movie, they might think of the song \u2018Choreography,\u2019 which is not in this musical. The big dance number at the end of act one is \u2018Blue Skies,\u2019 which is not in the movie.\u201d<\/p>\n Barclay finds audiences to be completely on board with the stage musical. \u201cNobody ever says \u2018That wasn\u2019t in the movie!\u2019 It\u2019s different. The orchestrations and the live dancing have really opened it up. The book is as lively as it can be. And can you get any better than dancing in the snow?\u201d<\/p>\n The special challenges of working on the Goodspeed Opera House stage are also a factor, but Barclay has much more experience working there on that small, tight stage than most choreographers.<\/p>\n \u201cI have my own way of working around that,\u201d she said. \u201cI have the dancers learn from inside their bodies then bring that to the stage so they are already comfortable doing the full movements. It can be astounding.\u201d<\/p>\n The Goodspeed cast features Omar Lopez-Cepero (from the theater\u2019s acclaimed production of \u201cSouth Pacific\u201d), Lauren Nicole Chapman (who toured through Connecticut in \u201cKinky Boots\u201d a decade ago), Clyde Alves, Jonaly Saxer, Sofie Nesaneli, Bruce Sabath and a sizeable supporting ensemble.<\/p>\n Goodspeed having a record-breaking year as CT theaters find audiences again<\/a><\/p>\n The Goodspeed production is not a radical rethinking of \u201cIrving Berlin\u2019s White Christmas\u201d but the culmination of what Barclay has learned through all the previous productions and tours of the show she has worked on.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re not reinventing the wheel here. We\u2019re making it fit the Goodspeed stage and putting our own stamp on it. From the beginning, there were really no big problems putting this show together. It did so well on tour. It\u2019s Americana,\u201d Barkley said.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s such a happy time to work, at Christmastime,\u201d she added. \u201cThis is just a joy. I prefer the shows that bring joy.\u201d So she is dreaming of a \u201cWhite Christmas?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI sure am,\u201d she said. \u201cThis is a little jewel box of joy fulfilled.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIrving Berlin\u2019s White Christmas\u201d runs Nov. 14 through Dec. 28 at the Goodspeed Opera House, 6 Main St., East Haddam. Performances are Wednesdays at 2 and 7:30 p.m., Thursdays at 7:30 p.m., Fridays at 8 p.m., Saturdays at 3 and 8 p.m., Sundays at 2 and 6:30 p.m. There are added Tuesday performances on Dec. 23 and 30 at 2 and 7:30 p.m.; 2 p.m. matinees on Nov. 28 and Dec. 4, 18 and 26. There is no 6:30 p.m. performance on Dec. 21 or 7:30 p.m. performances on Dec. 24 and 31 and no performances on Dec. 25. $35-$91. goodspeed.org<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.yahoo.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Choreographer Kelli Barclay has been involved with nearly a dozen Goodspeed shows. She was the associate choreographer for \u201cLucky in the Rain\u201d in 1997, \u201cGeorge M!\u201d in 2000, and \u201cThe Will Rogers Follies\u201d in 2018. In 2011, she choreographed both \u201cMy One and Only\u201d at the Goodspeed Opera House and \u201cHello My Baby!\u201d at Goodspeed\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2029532,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25172],"tags":[373625,22116,409527,409523,409525,409526,409528,409524],"class_list":["post-2144429","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment","tag-choreographer","tag-christmas","tag-goodspeed","tag-goodspeed-opera-house","tag-hunter-foster","tag-randy-skinner","tag-stage-adaptation","tag-white-christmas"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/In-Black-Rabbit-Jason-Bateman-and-Jude-Law-are-brothers.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2144429","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2144429"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2144429\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2144430,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2144429\/revisions\/2144430"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2029532"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2144429"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2144429"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2144429"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}