My wife and I attended the Paramount Theater production of Irving Berlin’s White Christmas, The Musical in Aurora, Illinois. We subscribe to the Broadway Series because the Paramount produces top-quality shows, and we’ve seen close to two dozen, I’d estimate, over the years.

My all-time favorite was an all-Black cast production of Jesus Christ Superstar. But every show we’ve seen has offered something unique and a vital presentation of themes old and new.

Which brings me to a “review” of the current production of White Christmas, and why it has modern relevance and revelations to offer more than half a century after its creation.

First: huge compliments to the performers, whose incredible talents in singing, dance, acting, and tap dancing wowed the audience into impromptu cheers and long applause after each section of the show. I tried imagining what it would be like to work in the theater profession while leafing through the Playbill reading the actor bios. Many of them thanked their agents for their work, which prompted me to look up the casting director and director, who, in notes to the audience, noted the show’s devotion to “everyday acts of kindness” and “counting our blessings.”

That’s the main theme of the production, yet there is far more going on with this musical production than the White Christmas movie seemed to convey. Perhaps it’s the result of being “present” with the cast as they portray each character’s story in real time, but the story made so much more sense as a play than it did for us onscreen.

The context of the story is post-WW II during the time when everyone who fought in the war or experienced its impacts “back at home” was figuring out what life was supposed to look like after the threat of worldwide fascism fell to the “good guys” fighting overseas. That’s where the play opens with two talented men holding a battlefield Christmas Eve musical of their own. Upon being discovered by their strong-willed General, they retreat to their duties, but he sternly thanks them for that touch of home despite the breach of wartime conduct.

It’s a raw feeling realizing that nowadays, half the United States seems to have forgotten what the threat of fascism looks like. For that reason, it’s taking place right before our eyes as Trump sends militarized ICE mercenaries out into the streets wearing masks without identification to drag people away without recourse. That’s the kind of dog-whistle racism, anti-immigration, anti-Semitic, anti-Liberal, anti-intellectual sentiments that America fought against in Germany’s Nazi era.

The other stark realization is that General Dwight Eisenhower is mentioned several times in the musical as the President who won the war and now presides over 1954 America. A glance at the 1956 Republican Party Platform illustrates how far from sanity that party has drifted in the seventy years since Eisenhower ran the nation. Eisenhower also warned against the “military-industrial complex” and the United States now spends more on its military (and now its ICE military) than the next six or seven nations combined. We’re insane, in other words.

The play also acknowledges the classic issue of ageism in America, as one song is literally titled “What Can You Do With A General. The tune focuses on the problems faced by those who choose to continue working but are no longer deemed ‘fit for duty’ or useful to society. Millions of Americans are now experiencing those feelings as they are “generally” constrained to menial, low-paying jobs in the service or retail industry.

The General in White Christmas owns and runs a hotel, but a distinctly warm winter in Vermont isn’t helping things upstate, where everyone who came to see and rub their faces in the snow is disappointed and leaves. These days, it’s climate change that screwing everything up, as noted from reports around the world: “Ski resorts are struggling with climate change, experiencing shorter seasons and lost revenue due to less predictable and decreasing snowfall. In response, many are adapting by investing in more efficient snowmaking, implementing energy-saving measures, and changing their business models to be more sustainable, though the long-term outlook remains challenging.”

Finding hope

White Christmas depicts a faction of people who turn to creativity and ingenuity to prop up the General’s enterprise. In the end, it helps him overcome an unfortunate tendency toward stubborn conservatism. His mind undergoes revelations as he watches the play preparations unfold, including the scene in which the two lead men play feminine roles in a reprise of a Sisters fan dance previously performed by the two female leads. Irving Berlin was far ahead of his time in illustrating the gender-fluid nature of the arts and how they break down emotional barriers.

Human values

There’s a quasi-religious theme behind it all, but not the conservative Christian kind where people use religion to control others. The song Count Your Blessings Instead of Sheep calls us to take stock of the good things we do for others and the good things they do for us. In some respects, that’s liberal Christianity and the Golden Rule. But Berlin’s play is more humanistic than it is religious, and that’s an important distinction these days when Right wing Christians try to claim that all good traits emanate from God. That’s partly true if one doesn’t turn religion into a weapon. White Christmas The Musical drops more than a few hints that there is a strong relationship between the kinds of people who engage in personal relationship betrayal and societal corruption.

Deeper themes

All of these deeper themes resonate beneath the show’s history as a classic musical. But it’s the glamour that brings it all to life, and the staging at Paramount is incredible. That is apparently a product of being “presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals,” because the stagecraft brings you right into the old barn where the fundraising play will be staged. But there’s also wall-sized rotating set of piano keys that delivers jaw-dropping visuals.

Director Stephen Schellhardt brings it all together thanks to the ensemble of enormously talented actors, dancers, and singers. We even got a chance to sing along at one point in the play! What really fascinated me was how frequent and convincing the costume changes were. It all climaxes with a Christmas-themed final number in which the two female leads emerge in the sparkliest dresses you’ve ever seen, backed by the cast performing “I’ve Got My Love to Keep Me Warm.”

That’s the sentiment of connection that Schellhardt sought to convey. But for me, it was the contrast between the good vibes of the past with the harsh realities of the present that made the show so meaningful. I don’t think the current administration would grasp those contrasts, or understand why the humanistic precepts of White Christmas are what Make America Great Again, and always have.

Instead, it’s likely Trump and his fascist band of Christian nationalists and bigoted supremacists would think “White Christmas” means cleansing the countryside of Brown or Black People, immigrants, and anyone who dares to question Trump’s sociopathic authority and doesn’t embrace White Replacement Theory.