{"id":249519,"date":"2015-12-04T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2015-12-04T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sdnews.com\/its-a-white-christmas-at-the-spreckels\/"},"modified":"2015-12-04T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2015-12-04T08:00:00","slug":"its-a-white-christmas-at-the-spreckels","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/its-a-white-christmas-at-the-spreckels\/","title":{"rendered":"It\u2019s a \u2018White Christmas\u2019 at the Spreckels"},"content":{"rendered":"

Por Charlene Baldridge<\/p>\n

San Diego Musical Theatre (SDMT) has its own holiday tradition going with its fourth annual presentation of \u201cIrving Berlin\u2019s White Christmas.\u201d<\/p>\n

Premiered in San Francisco in 2004 and in the U.K. prior to its 2008-09 Broadway debut, this exceptionally tuneful stage musical is based on the 1954 Paramount Pictures film written by Norman Krasna, Norman Panama and Melvin Frank. With book by David Ives and Paul Blake, the SDMT production is by now familiar, steady and reliable.<\/p>\n

\"1web\"<\/a>
(l to r) Allison Spratt Pearce, David Engel, Jeffrey Scott Parsons and Tro Shaw (Photo by Ken Jacques)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"David<\/a>
David Engel and Jeffrey Scott Parsons (Photo by Ken Jacques)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This season, SDMT\u2019s original romantic lead, song and dance man Bob Wallace, is once again played by David Engel, who scored a huge success earlier this season as Albin\/Zaza in SDMT\u2019s \u201cLa Cage aux Folles.\u201d He plays opposite San Diego singer\/actor Allison Spratt Pearce as Betty Haynes, half of a sister act with her sister Judy (Tro Shaw).<\/p>\n

Bob and his partner Phil Davis (Jeffrey Scott Parsons) met and entertained together toward the end of World War II when they were under the command of Gen. Henry Waverly (Ed Hollingsworth), who is now, 10 years later, retired and owner of a ski resort in Pine Tree, Vermont.<\/p>\n

\"David<\/a>
David Engel and the company (Photo by Ken Jacques)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After the opening scene on the battlefront in 1944, we find Bob and Phil backstage after their taping of an \u201cEd Sullivan Show.\u201d They\u2019re on their way to Florida to rehearse a Broadway show over the holidays. In pursuit of a complementary \u201cgirl\u201d act, and perhaps even a girl, the ladies man Phil hijacks Bob, first to see Judy and perform, and then to Vermont, where the women are booked to entertain guests at the ski lodge owned by Gen. Waverly. The resort isn\u2019t thriving, perhaps because of Waverly\u2019s militant way of running it. Besides, Vermont is having a heat wave and there is no snow.<\/p>\n

When Phil and Bob arrive they decide to take advantage of Waverly\u2019s barn and empty resort and bring their Broadway company to Vermont to rehearse the show.<\/p>\n

\"David<\/a>
David Engel and Jeffrey Scott Parsons in the spotlight with the cast (Photo by Ken Jacques)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Other denizens of the ski lodge include Waverly\u2019s hotel manager, Martha (Karla J. Franko, who stops the show with \u201cI\u2019m Happy\u201d), his pre-teen niece (Claire Scheper, who has a terrific voice), and the oddball maintenance man, Ezekiel (William Cobb). The company of 28 includes Paul Morgavo, Debra Wanger, Katie Whalley Banville, Siri Hafso and others who enrich locally produced musicals all season.<\/p>\n

Bob is romance shy. He and Betty appear to hit it off at first, especially when Bob, observed by Betty, shows his humanity by comforting the sleepless Susan with \u201cCount Your Blessings Instead of Sheep.\u201d Complications and misunderstandings sabotage their romance and Betty (\u201cLove, You Didn\u2019t Do Right By Me\u201d) takes off for a New York club engagement with Bob in hot pursuit.<\/p>\n

\"Jeffrey<\/a>
Jeffrey Scott Parsons and David Engel (Photo by Ken Jacques)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\"Screen<\/a>Meanwhile, the determined Judy lands the erstwhile Phil. Shaw, too, is an excellent singer, and Parsons is a grand dancer. Their \u201cI Love a Piano,\u201d tapped out upon a miniature piano, is a winner. So is the corps of dancers, who perform two big tap production numbers.<\/p>\n

Other huge assets include Irving Berlin\u2019s songs, including the aforementioned tunes plus \u201cSisters,\u201d \u201cHow Deep Is the Ocean,\u201d and \u201cWhite Christmas.\u201d How can those be topped? As always SDMT\u2019s 22-piece orchestra led by Don LeMaster is fine.<\/p>\n

The audience on Nov. 27 was filled with families, just what\u2019s needed to perpetuate a hit. But perhaps a facelift is in order for next year? And a bit more snow.<\/p>\n

\u2014Charlene Baldridge ha estado escribiendo sobre las artes desde 1979. Puedes seguir su blog en charlenebaldridge.com<\/a> or reach her at charb81@gmail.com.<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Por Charlene Baldridge<\/p>","protected":false},"author":731,"featured_media":227989,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11555","_seopress_titles_title":"It\u2019s a \u2018White Christmas\u2019 at the Spreckels","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11549,11551,11550,11555],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-249519","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-entertainment","category-news","category-top-stories","category-uptown-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249519","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/731"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=249519"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249519\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/227989"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=249519"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=249519"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=249519"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}