Dec. 21, 2025: "White Christmas" at Shea's 710



  Is there anything left to add to the visions of Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye dancing through our heads in the 1954 film, "White Christmas?" 

        MusicalFare answered that question by giving us the Broadway musical version and its big bagful of Irving Berlin favorites in Shea's 710 Theatre. Last chance to see it was Sunday afternoon, Dec. 21. 

        The plot, as we remember from the movie, is a comforter. Two World War II Army buddies become song-and-dance stars, get allured by an aspiring singing sister act and inadvertently wind up in Vermont ski country at a woebegone winter resort hotel that just happens to be owned by their blustering former commanding officer. Out of love and loyalty, they decide to give him a lift financially by doing what they do best, staging a full-scale Broadway production in his barn.

         There was plenty of delight in rediscovering familiar songs like "Blue Skies," "How Deep Is the Ocean?" and "Count Your Blessings (Instead of Sheep)." Even more pleasures were in the performances, notably by John Kaczorowski (also a standout as the sheriff in MusicalFare's "Came From Away" earlier this season) in the Bing Crosby role, and in the second-half opener, where Sean Ryan (no, not the new Buffalo mayor) in the Danny Kaye role and Cassidy Kreuzer as one of the sisters joined forces for a tap dance and other hi-jinks atop a mini grand piano. 

        They all took a back seat, though, to tiny fourth-grader Arden Kacala, who was going hoarse when we saw the next-to-last show Saturday night, but nevertheless soldiered on through a solo musical number and an extraordinary amount of dialog. She brought down the house. 

        P.S.: The woman in the seat next to me spent both halves of the show exchanging comments with her companion when she wasn't texting on her cellphone. Too bad phone signal jamming isn't legal.

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