Immerse yourself in the festive joy of White Christmas

Immerse yourself in the festive joy of White Christmas
Harriet Howard Heithaus | Nov 21, 2025
Originally ran in The Naples Press: full article

There’s a sneaky little truth about the classic film White Christmas that could be coming out this season: A lot of us apparently have never seen the whole movie.

We’ve relished snippets culled for “great moments in American films” collections or holiday cinema histories (a 1905 silent version of The Night Before Christmas is actual leader of the pack). We’ve heard Bing Crosby sing the title song even more times than we’ve shopped for Christmas gifts.

But everyone questioned during the current production of Irving Berlin’s White Christmas at Gulfshore Playhouse confessed to being familiar with famous scenes rather than the whole film. (Even this writer had only seen the original 1942 movie the song first appeared in, Holiday Inn.)

You can fix that. Under director Dan Dunn, Irving Berlin’s White Christmas offers us the story, emphasizing its essence: poignant scenes of awakening love with slices of high energy, impeccable music and amazing dance.

Strangely — or perhaps not, since we’ve been hearing Christmas carols in stores since October — two of the most gripping numbers have nothing to do with the holidays. Who can resist a cadre of tappers in an exuberantly percussive rendition of “I Love a Piano” — done in keyboard collars with outsize cuffs and a crimson musical staff background?

The other, Berlin’s sweet “Blue Skies,” is magic, done in a sleek Art Moderne treatment of blue and white from costume designer Tracy Christensen. Accordingly, designer Bobbie Zlotnik puts the female dancers in bob cuts. (Hair is important; the women show up in white Madame Pompadour looks for another number.)

We do get to Christmas at the inn four performers are committed to saving for a beloved World War II general. But first there’s also a lot of wonderful Berlin music that had been culled for the film, and it’s studded with gems we might not otherwise hear. Among them is “Snow,” celebrated on the train to Vermont by an ecstatic crowd of holiday passengers who don’t know — obviously pre-Weather Channel — that Vermont hasn’t had a flake and its ski resort inns are going bust.

The Gulfshore Playhouse treatment of a story that is graying at the temples gives it new life with first-class dance and song. Ben Michael, who plays the hard-headed leader of an army duo whose act has become famous, has the melodic timbre to carry the Bing Crosby load with sweet songs including “Count Your Blessings Instead of Sheep,” “How Deep Is the Ocean” and, of course, “White Christmas.”

Stacie Bono is his match as the hot-headed senior of the Haynes Sisters, Betty. She has a strong, clear voice and theatric capability to make believable a woman who dumps the man she loves without asking hard questions of his motives. No one, however, matches Charis Leos as Martha, the inn’s redoubtable manager; she’s a graduate of the Ethel Merman school of voice who steals the show with “Let Me Sing and I’m Happy.”

Because this is 1954 and everyone can sing, including the waif granddaughter Susie (Alice DeHaen), here for the Christmas holidays and hoping to enrich her California upbringing with the so-far elusive experience of snow. Irving Berlin’s White Christmas tucks in something for everyone, including occasional jokey patter that is dated, but we’re not here to rate it as Comedy Club material. This cast gets through the hoarier jokes and makes the most of expression and body language so you don’t have to love their lines to love their personalities.

The star dancers of the production are the junior members of the two duos into whom Cupid is shooting sometimes painful arrows. Chris McNiff (as Bob’s partner, Chris) and Cassie Austin (as Betty’s younger sister, Judy) do not seem tethered to the ground. Their zest in dance work, comic timing and strong vocals seals the show’s success.

We’re purists; we miss a pit orchestra — because of the sea level here, the orchestra is piped in from an upstairs room — and we’re waiting for the musical that brings the band onstage. But we have to send kudos to Trevor M. Pierce, the music director, for keeping the icons such as “White Christmas” in character with the show, rather than succumbing to Las Vegas concert style.

It doesn’t require snow to enjoy this melodic baptism into the holiday season. But be waiting; there could be a blizzard in the forecast for the audience, too.