Christmas in July at TLP

Wrap it up and put a bow on it – Timber Lake Playhouse is giving us Christmas in July. Find your Santa hat and favorite gaudy Christmas shirt to join the fun of Irving Berlin’s White Christmas now through August 5th.

It’s hard to compare Summer stock to the classic movie version with Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, and Rosemary Clooney, but you can’t beat live theatre either. The theatre production varies slightly from the most beloved Christmas musical. The first scene begins in Germany on Christmas Eve 1944. Bob Wallace, played by crooner Tanner Bollinger, and Phil Davis, played by the energetic Zach Powell, are entertaining the troops when staunch General Henry Waverly, played by Jeremy Day, gives them a farewell as he is heading back to the states. Speed ahead to 1954 when Bob and Phil now have their own Vaudeville troop just before Christmas break. Their plan is to travel to Florida to rehearse their new show. Bob is the more serious and sensible of the two, while Phil is a flamboyant bachelor that loves the women.

Before they go, they must check out a sister act, Betty and Judy Haynes. Betty, played by Jenny Guse, is the most talented of the quartet vocally and my winner of best musical performance. She’s the more serious and sensible of the two sisters. Judy is the flirtatious and flamboyant sister and of course she hit’s it off right away with Phil . They arrange for the fun to continue in Vermont to perform where of course we find General Waverly. He’s running the Inn and with no snow at Christmas there are fears “The Old Man” might lose everything.

All the classic favorite songs are performed from Sisters to Snow (check out the innovative train set) and of course White Christmas. This is classic Rodgers and Hammerstein that most of us of a certain age remember and really enjoy. My college kids even commented they want to see the original movie. James Beaudry directed the show but watch for him in the chorus as well. At the end of the first act the tap dancing and choreography raised The Company to an energetic level that I like to see then.

Supporting cast Martha Watson (Cassandra Marie Nuss) and Granddaughter Susan Waverly (Abby Pauley) really added to the show. Nuss had to be best supporting actress playing the hotel concierge by making her character a real character. Comic relief for the show goes to farm hand Ezekiel Foster, played by Ken Rider. He plays the local country hick “Yupp”.

The performance we went to was fairly full, so reserve your tickets right away for this very popular performance. With the intermission the show was nearly 2-1/2 hours long.

(by Barb Benson, theCity1.com)