Holiday Inn
A good time singing and dancing with Drayton show
A good time singing and dancing with Drayton show
Though Drayton Entertainment opened their season at Drayton Festival Theatre in May with a production of “Holiday Inn” it became a question of, will that show be any different when it moves to Cambridge in November?
Well in fact it is a bit, but they didn’t sacrifice any of the good stuff; same dynamic cast, same simple but effective stage design, same great Irving Berlin music.
The Cambridge performance opened Friday at the Hamilton Family Theatre and runs until Dec. 30, right through the Christmas season. This show has a more Christmasy feel and the entire cast sings a moving rendition of “White Christmas” as an encore. It’s not written into the script, just another one of those surprise touches Drayton has become so well for.
“Holiday Inn” began its life as a 1942 film starring Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire performing 20 of Berlin’s iconic songs.
The Broadway musical made its Canadian debut when it opened at the Drayton Festival and though it pays homage to all the holidays, Easter, Valentine’s Day, New Year’s Eve and Thanksgiving, it’s Christmas that becomes pivotal.
The story line follows Jim Hardy, played by Zach Trimmer, and his night club dance partners Ted Hanover played by Matthew Armet and Lila Dixon, played by Alexandra Herzog, who made her Drayton debut in the May show.
Jim is in love with Lila but is tired of the uncertainty of life on the road and so he buys a Connecticut farm and proposes to Lila. She reluctantly agrees but really, her heart is in showbiz, not the chicken biz.
Jim goes off to the farm ahead of Lila who is doing one more show with Ted. At the farm, a rambling old farm house, poor Jim is met with nothing but debt and bad luck, including when Lila appears to tell him that the engagement is off.
Broken hearted but not defeated, Jim soon has something, or rather someone, to distract him, the former owner of the farm Linda Mason whose life and history is tied up in the old place.
Linda is played by the always superb Jayme Armstrong, paired perfectly with Trimmer, vocally, physically, comedically. Linda, an elementary school teacher who still harbours memories of wanting to be a performer, is about as down to earth as you can get and this appeals to Jim.
The story has the stereotypical elements of boy meets girl, boy loses girl, girl decides to forgive boy and let’s hold a big variety show to save the farm. It’s really the talent on the stage that is the show stopper and it’s a big cast, 17 in all, performing complex tap dance numbers, iconic songs and just having so much fun it’s infectious.
Trimmer, with that rich Irish tenor voice and a veteran of Broadway shows, is worth the ticket price alone and Armet’s solo tap dance number will make you wonder, how can he move like that?
The role of Ted in the spring production was played by another actor and Armet as a replacement was a good choice. The way he moves, he’s all shades of Fred Astaire.
Of course there is also comic relief in these shows, brought to the stage in wide swaths of fun by the gangly goofiness of Keith Savage as Ted’s manager and the spunky big voiced Laura Caswell as handiwoman, Louise Badger. They are both very funny and Caswell really knows how to command a stage. There is also a good dose of cuteness with William Thompson as Charlie Winslow, one of Linda’s students and a gofer for the bank which is trying to foreclose on Jim. Thompson will be a performer to watch as he matures.
Aside from the human character on stage Rachel Berchtold’s beautiful costumes are equally important. She has shown herself to be innovative as a designer as well as knowing how to capture the style and glamour of the 1940s.