Irving Berlin's White Christmas Tickets | Schedule for 2024/2025 Events

Irving Berlin's White Christmas

White Christmas is a musical based on the book written by David Ives and Paul Blake. Irving Berlin, however, wrote the music and lyrics for the musical. It is based on a 1954 film with the same title.

The musical premiered in July 2000 at The Muny in St. Louis, Missouri, and opened on Broadway in 2008. The musical was revived at the West End in 2014 and 2019.

Irving Berlin's White Christmas has been popular with the audience, even as the critics seemed unimpressed. It was nominated in two categories at the Tony Awards and five categories at the Drama Desk Awards in 2009. The musical is divided into two acts. It has eleven songs in each act.

The Broadway version is directed by Walter Bobbie. It featured Stephen Bogardus, Kerry O’Malley, Jeffry Denman, and Meredith Patterson in the lead roles for the first season. The musical opened on Broadway the next year with James Clow, Melissa Errico, Mara Davi, and Tony Yazbeck in the main roles. Different artists played the characters during the yearly tours that took place during the November and December months.

Synopsis and Famous Musical Numbers

Bob Wallace and Phil Davis are army veterans who take up the stage (song and dance acts) after their service in the Second World War. They follow two sisters to a Vermont lodge for a Christmas show. The men want to pursue the women, but things are comically complex when they realize that the lodge is owned by their former army commander. What follows is a series of mix-ups and confusion, sorted at the end to present a happy ever after.

The title song, White Christmas, by Bob, Phil, Ralph Sheldrake, and Ensemble, is the most famous number of the musical. However, it also has other popular numbers, such as I Love a Piano, Blue Skies, Count Your Blessing (Instead of Sheep), etc.

The musical is called Irving Berlin's White Christmas to easily differentiate it from the film, which is also a musical (the original is a musical film by Paramount Pictures and directed by Michael Curtiz.) The film also has music and lyrics by Irving Berlin, including the song, White Christmas. The musical show is pretty much similar to the film.