A romance for any season, Holiday Inn, brings an old-school musical feel and a parading array of 1940s fashion to audiences this season at the Drayton Festival Theatre.
The Irving Berlin musical is rich with classic music, endearing romance and a host of characters the audience loves and hates at the exact same time.
Have no fear upon entering the theatre and seeing a screen on stage in place of traditional curtains. Drayton Entertainment sets up the 1942 story as though it’s a black and white film, an assumed nod to the original Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire film, before seamlessly transitioning into a live performance after rolling the credits.
As with many films of the era the endless list of credits seems to go on and on, but just as the audience starts to squirm in their seats the screen is lifted and the main event begins.
When Jim Hardy leaves show business behind to settle down in a farmhouse in Connecticut he discovers life isn’t the same without song and dance.
Shortly after his arrival Jim meets Linda Mason, a talented schoolteacher, and she, along with some of his old stage pals who are only available on holidays when their fulltime gigs in the city are closed, help Jim turn his farmhouse into an inn with dazzling performances to celebrate each holiday.
The musical takes the audience through numerous holidays from New Year’s Eve to Valentine’s Day to Easter to Independence Day to Thanksgiving.
But then Jim’s best friend Ted Hanover also falls for Linda, in a non-romantic, dance partner-in-waiting fashion and Jim must compete for her affections.
A show of love, friendship and the passion for performance and country life create a musical that’s not to be missed.
Drayton Entertainment veteran Jayme Armstrong once again dazzles the audience, this time as Linda. With her beautiful, pure voice and ease on stage it is easy to forget she isn’t right out of 1942 Connecticut.
Together with Zach Trimmer, the ambitious, yet country life-seeking Jim, Armstrong brings classic songs to the audience.
Before the end of the first act Armstrong and Trimmer please the audience with a beautiful rendition of White Christmas. While not mimicking the exact tone and feel of Bing Crosby and Rosemary Clooney in the movie classic White Christmas, Armstrong and Timmer make the song their own and don’t disappoint the audience. Linda and Jim’s love seeps through with every word.
With many productions minor characters steal the show and Holiday Inn was no exception.
Handywoman Louise Badger, played by Laura Caswell, is a light on stage no matter what the scene. Louise and Jim have many scenes together and the chemistry between Timmer and Caswell is palpable and it’s easily believable that they’re friends both on and off stage.
Caswell is also a master of her craft, with perfect timing and facial expressions that completely invoke the feeling of every scene, no matter how minor her role, making difficult to look away and pay attention to the main scene.
Young William Thompson rounds out the scene-stealing category. Playing Charlie Winslow, one of Linda’s students, he continuously serves Jim with bank papers regarding the farm’s dire financial straits. Thompson does an excellent job playing the “innocent” young boy who is obviously up to something. He’s the only child in the show and holds his own with the adults in every scene.
Director and choreographer Michael Lichtefeld, along with set designer David Boechler, make the set come alive with innovative ways to convey a scene. When Jim has packed up and moving to Connecticut with the help of his musical buddies, the actors cleverly transform a table, piano, and luggage into a realistic car. It’s the actor’s body language and luggage placement that really sells the scene, with round bags even being strategically placed where the wheels of the car would be located.
Lichtefeld also masterfully choregraphed a plethora of tap-dance numbers. At times the dancers were so in sync it appeared they were one and at other times, when the scene called for it, they were all over the place in choregraphed mayhem that looked natural.
Costume designer Rachel Berchtold also had her work cut out for her. With each scene came a new outfit. With many of the actors on stage for consecutive scenes the quick changes that must have occurred are unimaginable, unless the on stage magic is witnessed firsthand.
A hit costume appeared in the Thanksgiving number where the female dancers wore turkey costumes and the male dancers were dressed as pilgrims. There were audible chuckles rolling throughout the audience.
The Drayton Entertainment production of Irving Berlin’s Holiday Inn is not only Drayton Festival Theatre’s first show of the season it’s also the Canadian premiere of the show.
Holiday Inn is on stage at the Drayton Festival Theatre until June 3. The show will play two other Drayton Entertainment venues in 2018: the Huron Country Playhouse in Grand Bend from Sept. 13 to 30 and the Hamilton Family Theatre Cambridge from Nov. 22 to Dec. 30.
Tickets can be purchased online instantly at www.draytonentertainment.com, in person at the box office or by calling 519-638-5555 or toll free at 1-855-DRAYTON (372-9866).
