Winter has come early with over a foot of snow here on my hill at the mouth of the river Tyne, falling once overnight and the second time while watching the Irving Berlin musical White Christmas at the Sunderland Empire. According to the weather forecasters the snow which came to Northumbria as anticipated on Wednesday overnight is due to continue falling for the next two weeks with temperatures as low as minus 15 degrees already reported. It is treacherous on roads and pavements although the local council did make effort to keep the main roads gritted in South Tyneside but those in the City of Sunderland were in an appalling condition as I travelled from a roast turkey and gammon dinner at a Carvery in Cleadon Village to a car park close to the theatre on Saturday evening. It is one of the earliest recorded times that such snow fall has occurred as the last Autumn month ends and even back in the 1960’s it was not as heavy and prolonged as now.
I remember seeing the film White Christmas when it was first released in 1954, staring Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye with Rosemary Clooney and Vera Ellen as the two sisters. The films was issued in the new wide screen process Vista Vision and marked the use of a mountain logo by Paramount which became their trade mark for the next three decades. The film has subsequently been shown regularly over the Christmas and New Year holidays on multi channel and I have viewed a few times during the last half century, but my memory of the story had become hazy. Not so several of the songs, particularly the title White Christmas, I’m dreaming of....and Blue Skies. Two other numbers gained a popularity beyond the film and subsequent stage musical, Sisters and Count your blessings Instead of Sheep. There is a number Its Cold Outside which can be confused with the well known Baby Its Cold Outside created by Frank Loesser in 1948.
I knew nothing of the history of the stage version of the musical which in fact was only created in 2004 for presentation in the USA and came first to the UK for the Christmas season in 2006. My impression is that stage production closely follows the film and certainly the song numbers are similar
Happy holiday
White Christmas White Christmas
Let Yourself go The Old man
Love and the Weather Heat Wave/ Let me Sing/
I’M Happy/Blue Skies
Sisters Sisters
The best things Happen The best things Happen While Your’re Dancing While Your’re Dancing
Snow Snow
What can we do with a Minstrel Number
General
Let me sing I’m Happy
Count Your Blessings Count Your Blessings
Blue Skies Choreography
I love Piano Best things happen when
Falling out of Love Abraham
Sisters
Love you Didn’t Do right By Me/ Love You didn’t do right
How deep is the Ocean
We follow the Old Man
Let Me Sing I’m Happy
How Deep is the Ocean What can you do
Well follow the Old Man Gee I wish I was back
In the army
White Christmas White Christmas
I’ve got my Love to keep me warm
The story of the film rendins fo the Christian basis of the season, the getting to gether of friends and families, the having a good time and the dangers of paying attention to heresay, not checking facts and to the harm well intentioned busy bodies can cause.
The story opens as the second World War draws to its close in Europe and two friends are part of an entertainment put on for their comrades in arms at Christmas. The commanding General speaks to the men of the task ahead and the hope that ten years later the men would have good and peaceful lives with families. The two friends in the Sunderland production are played by Tom Chambers, an actor in the TV series Holby City and Waterloo Road but who made his name by winning Strictly Come Dancing, and Adam Cooper, an established dancer cheorographer and theatre director, while the General is played by Ken Kercheval, now aged 75 and who made his name in the TV blockbuster series of Dallas as Cliff Barnes. Ken also played the role when the show first came to the UK in 2006 while Adam Cooper starred last season in Plymouth and Manchester.
Ten years later the two men have become successful in musical theatre, appearing on the Ed Sullivan show before going to Miami over the holiday season to prepare for their next production. Having received a letter from one of their war comrades one of the pair persuades the other to catch the man’s two younger sisters performing at a club and they are impressed as well as attracted to the women. They invited the girls to bring their act to Miami as part of the show, but they are already contacted to appear at a Winter ski holiday centre in Vermont. One of the men devises a plan which results in the other finding himself on the same train as the girls to Vermont and when they get to the resort, they find it being run at a loss by their former Commanding officer. Worse still there is a sudden heat wave instead of snow so bookings are cancelled and General faces ruin. The two men devise a plan to bring their company to rehearse their next show at the centre using the Barn as the theatre and then to invite all the members of the 151 battalion and their families to come to the resort over the holiday to show support and respect for the general. The General meanwhile had applied to rejoin the army but his application is treated by a former colleague as a joke.
All goes well with the plan until the resort receptionist asked to communicate a message from a product producer on the Ed Sullivan show who also produced the wartime show in which the two men first men. She interprets the message as revealing that the men plan to buy the resort at a knock down price and make millions. She passes this misinterpretation on to one of the sisters at the same time as giving her a telegram offering her a major booking at a New York nightclub. She takes the assignment broken hearted at what she feels is the betrayal by the man she had come to admire as well as love. Without understanding why she has broken off the relationship the man follows her to New York and when she still rejects his interest he leaves to return to Vermont for the special performance show. He also leaves her with the Ed Sullivan producer friend he has invited to catch her act and she quickly realises that the man is not a real estate agent and that she has accepted a false story, also returning to Vermont to appear in the show.
The General is persuade to wear his uniform for the occasion still unaware that the support reunion has been planned and gets a second surprise when a letter is sent from the White House giving him a job with the USA army in Europe. He decides to decline the offer and make the most of the opportunity given to him by the former comrades. At the end of the show within a show, the doors behind the stage are opened to reveal that snow has arrived at the resort. And in true Hollywood style everyone lives happy ever after.
The musical is a faithful production of the style of show and song fashionable in the 1950’s and makes no allowance for social changes in the intervening years although the appal from brothers in arms to stick together and support each other when they return to civilian life is as strong now in the post Korean, Vietnam and Middle East conflicts as it was post World War II.
I have visited the Sunderland Empire Theatre several times over my decades living on Tyne and Wearsides usually for the Pantomime at Christmas/New Year. It is an ancient theatre built in 1007 with 2000 seats in an auditorium which has remained substantial the same over the century. However in 2004/5 £4.5 million was spent to raise the height of the above stage tower, lengthen and widen the stage to enable full West End and International theatre productions to be produced including Miss Saigon, one of my favourites, South Pacific, My Fare Lady, and Starlight Express. Mickey Rooney appeared in the 2007 Christmas Pantomime with his wife while Helen Mirren first performed on this stage and the Comedian Sydney James had a heart attack and died on his way to hospital.
I enjoyed the evening despite the horrendous conditions on the untreated Sunderland roads one the way to and from the Theatre. Mist of the audience wisely kept on their coats as it was none to warm inside. The seats remain comfortable, and West End prices were charged about double one would expect for a show at this time of the year and here were no concessions. I would be surprised if the gross box office is less than half a million pounds a week and one hopes the rates paid to the performers reflects this as for many this will be their substantial earning period for the year. I shall now look out for a showing of the film over Christmas.
I remember seeing the film White Christmas when it was first released in 1954, staring Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye with Rosemary Clooney and Vera Ellen as the two sisters. The films was issued in the new wide screen process Vista Vision and marked the use of a mountain logo by Paramount which became their trade mark for the next three decades. The film has subsequently been shown regularly over the Christmas and New Year holidays on multi channel and I have viewed a few times during the last half century, but my memory of the story had become hazy. Not so several of the songs, particularly the title White Christmas, I’m dreaming of....and Blue Skies. Two other numbers gained a popularity beyond the film and subsequent stage musical, Sisters and Count your blessings Instead of Sheep. There is a number Its Cold Outside which can be confused with the well known Baby Its Cold Outside created by Frank Loesser in 1948.
I knew nothing of the history of the stage version of the musical which in fact was only created in 2004 for presentation in the USA and came first to the UK for the Christmas season in 2006. My impression is that stage production closely follows the film and certainly the song numbers are similar
Happy holiday
White Christmas White Christmas
Let Yourself go The Old man
Love and the Weather Heat Wave/ Let me Sing/
I’M Happy/Blue Skies
Sisters Sisters
The best things Happen The best things Happen While Your’re Dancing While Your’re Dancing
Snow Snow
What can we do with a Minstrel Number
General
Let me sing I’m Happy
Count Your Blessings Count Your Blessings
Blue Skies Choreography
I love Piano Best things happen when
Falling out of Love Abraham
Sisters
Love you Didn’t Do right By Me/ Love You didn’t do right
How deep is the Ocean
We follow the Old Man
Let Me Sing I’m Happy
How Deep is the Ocean What can you do
Well follow the Old Man Gee I wish I was back
In the army
White Christmas White Christmas
I’ve got my Love to keep me warm
The story of the film rendins fo the Christian basis of the season, the getting to gether of friends and families, the having a good time and the dangers of paying attention to heresay, not checking facts and to the harm well intentioned busy bodies can cause.
The story opens as the second World War draws to its close in Europe and two friends are part of an entertainment put on for their comrades in arms at Christmas. The commanding General speaks to the men of the task ahead and the hope that ten years later the men would have good and peaceful lives with families. The two friends in the Sunderland production are played by Tom Chambers, an actor in the TV series Holby City and Waterloo Road but who made his name by winning Strictly Come Dancing, and Adam Cooper, an established dancer cheorographer and theatre director, while the General is played by Ken Kercheval, now aged 75 and who made his name in the TV blockbuster series of Dallas as Cliff Barnes. Ken also played the role when the show first came to the UK in 2006 while Adam Cooper starred last season in Plymouth and Manchester.
Ten years later the two men have become successful in musical theatre, appearing on the Ed Sullivan show before going to Miami over the holiday season to prepare for their next production. Having received a letter from one of their war comrades one of the pair persuades the other to catch the man’s two younger sisters performing at a club and they are impressed as well as attracted to the women. They invited the girls to bring their act to Miami as part of the show, but they are already contacted to appear at a Winter ski holiday centre in Vermont. One of the men devises a plan which results in the other finding himself on the same train as the girls to Vermont and when they get to the resort, they find it being run at a loss by their former Commanding officer. Worse still there is a sudden heat wave instead of snow so bookings are cancelled and General faces ruin. The two men devise a plan to bring their company to rehearse their next show at the centre using the Barn as the theatre and then to invite all the members of the 151 battalion and their families to come to the resort over the holiday to show support and respect for the general. The General meanwhile had applied to rejoin the army but his application is treated by a former colleague as a joke.
All goes well with the plan until the resort receptionist asked to communicate a message from a product producer on the Ed Sullivan show who also produced the wartime show in which the two men first men. She interprets the message as revealing that the men plan to buy the resort at a knock down price and make millions. She passes this misinterpretation on to one of the sisters at the same time as giving her a telegram offering her a major booking at a New York nightclub. She takes the assignment broken hearted at what she feels is the betrayal by the man she had come to admire as well as love. Without understanding why she has broken off the relationship the man follows her to New York and when she still rejects his interest he leaves to return to Vermont for the special performance show. He also leaves her with the Ed Sullivan producer friend he has invited to catch her act and she quickly realises that the man is not a real estate agent and that she has accepted a false story, also returning to Vermont to appear in the show.
The General is persuade to wear his uniform for the occasion still unaware that the support reunion has been planned and gets a second surprise when a letter is sent from the White House giving him a job with the USA army in Europe. He decides to decline the offer and make the most of the opportunity given to him by the former comrades. At the end of the show within a show, the doors behind the stage are opened to reveal that snow has arrived at the resort. And in true Hollywood style everyone lives happy ever after.
The musical is a faithful production of the style of show and song fashionable in the 1950’s and makes no allowance for social changes in the intervening years although the appal from brothers in arms to stick together and support each other when they return to civilian life is as strong now in the post Korean, Vietnam and Middle East conflicts as it was post World War II.
I have visited the Sunderland Empire Theatre several times over my decades living on Tyne and Wearsides usually for the Pantomime at Christmas/New Year. It is an ancient theatre built in 1007 with 2000 seats in an auditorium which has remained substantial the same over the century. However in 2004/5 £4.5 million was spent to raise the height of the above stage tower, lengthen and widen the stage to enable full West End and International theatre productions to be produced including Miss Saigon, one of my favourites, South Pacific, My Fare Lady, and Starlight Express. Mickey Rooney appeared in the 2007 Christmas Pantomime with his wife while Helen Mirren first performed on this stage and the Comedian Sydney James had a heart attack and died on his way to hospital.
I enjoyed the evening despite the horrendous conditions on the untreated Sunderland roads one the way to and from the Theatre. Mist of the audience wisely kept on their coats as it was none to warm inside. The seats remain comfortable, and West End prices were charged about double one would expect for a show at this time of the year and here were no concessions. I would be surprised if the gross box office is less than half a million pounds a week and one hopes the rates paid to the performers reflects this as for many this will be their substantial earning period for the year. I shall now look out for a showing of the film over Christmas.
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