There’s a December heatwave in Vermont in the stage version of the 1954 movie musical, and snow machines were at work both inside and outside the theatre on a mild November press night to create a seasonal atmosphere. It partly worked. Other than the title number, the content of White Christmas isn’t all that festively focused. The narrative is a weave of two classic threads, boy meets/loses/gets girl and “Let’s do the show right here!”, and no amount of mock-ice-skating choreography or sleigh-bell bracelets is going to Christmasise numbers such as “Blue Skies” or “I Love A Piano” (ironically written by a man, Irving Berlin, who could only play in the key of F#).
    
In some ways the most Christmassy thing about the show is the casting of Aled Jones; it may be over 30 years since he sang “Walking In The Air” for the film of The Snowman, but he can never escape it, especially at this time of year. This is an injustice, as he works extremely well in the Bing Crosby role as Bob Wallace. Jones is particularly suited to the gently wry mood of the character; this combines with the set of his face as he enters middle age to create a surprising air of Terry Wogan. Furthermore, his classically trained voice gives his musical numbers a “golden age” feel which beds the show’s aesthetic down comfortably. (The climactic kiss takes place with Jones in a cosy dressing-gown.) Rachel Stanley as his love interest has a correspondingly old-school voice, with a spoonful of Ethel Merman blare, just enough to fill the 2000-seat Dominion without blowing us through the back wall. Tom Chambers is much less frenetic than Danny Kaye: one eyebrow is semi-permanently raised, as if only half of his forehead has been Botoxed. The biggest surprise of all may be Graham Cole, shrugging off 25 years in TV’s The Bill to strike exactly the right note as general-turned-innkeeper Hank Waverly. It all sits agreeably enough in the West End for holiday season, but it’s hard to embrace it as a real winter warmer when our own winter hasn’t set in yet.
     
Written for the Financial Times.