Festival Theatre, Edinburgh
Five stars
The stage adaptation of the Irving Berlin scored 1954 feelgood movie
has been on the circuit for almost a decade now. Going by this latest
outing for David Ives and Paul Blake's version, it hasn't lost any of
its sparkle. For anyone who's been stranded in a remote ski lodge, the
story revolves around successful showbiz duo Bob Wallace and Phil
Davis, who learnt their song and dance chops when in the army during
World War Two.
Womanising Phil cons straight-laced Bob into boarding a train to wintry
Vermont with singing sisters Betty and Judy Haynes. The hotel they're
staying at turns out to be run – badly - by Bob and Phil's much-loved
former General, who inspires his former charges to stage a benefit show
in his barn, while love between the two double acts blossoms out of
season.
It's a heart-warmingly sentimental romance that must have had a
significant resonance when first seen so soon after the war. Almost
sixty years on, David Morgan's big, bright production goes beyond
nostalgia to capture the full show-stopping razzamatazz in the flesh.
As the couples, Stephen Houghton and Paul Robinson as Bob and Phil and
Rachel Stanley and Jayde Westaby as Betty and Judy do Berlin's numbers
more than justice in a breathless set of routines supported by a full
ensemble choreographed by Randy Skinner and accompanied by a live band
led by Andrew Corcoran.
Songs like Sisters, Happy Holiday and the title theme may be the main
attraction here, but ultimately this is a show about community, and
about how, if that community pulls together, it can conquer any
adversity, whatever the weather.
The Herald, December 5th 2013
ends
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