Review: Chanhassen Dinner Theatres gets an early jump on the holidays with sparkly ‘White Christmas’

Minnesota’s balmy weather and late-turning fall leaves may suggest a reluctance to change seasons, but Chanhassen Dinner Theatres is giving nature a showbiz assist.

Irving Berlin’s “White Christmas,” the company’s latest production, turbocharges us into the holidays.

“Christmas” had its clean, sparkly opening Friday, the 56th birthday of the nation’s largest professional dinner theater. The show is marked by high-gloss design, including Rich Hamson’s gorgeous costumes and Andy Kust’s peppy orchestra. It also boasts entertaining performances from a cast led by the quartet of Michael Gruber, Ann Michels, Tony Vierling and Andrea Mislan.

Taking place on Nayna Ramey’s efficient and poetically evocative set, “Christmas” flows like a holiday confection with oodles of old-fashioned charm.

Director Michael Brindisi has worked meticulously to summon the warm fuzzies of the 1954 film from which the stage musical has been adapted. And he largely succeeds, even if like the season that’s late in arriving, the emotions under these pretty stage pictures and beautiful songs are not fully developed.

Brindisi captures many of the ethereal qualities that make the title song and the show itself so enduring even as his version includes subtle updates. One small but notable example: The verb “shanghaied” has been replaced by the more colorful “bamboozled.”

And working seamlessly with choreographer Tamara Kangas Erickson and Kust, Brindisi elicits elegant presentational performances from a cast led by Gruber and Vierling as old Army buddies Bob Wallace and Phil Davis. The two are aged up for the famous song-and-dance duo who’ve traveled to Vermont to help their old Army commander Gen. Henry Waverly (JoeNathan Thomas) after the inn he bought has fallen on hard times.

Gruber and Vierling shine opposite Michels and Mislan, who also are notable as the Haynes sisters Betty and Judy.

The huge cast, lit beautifully by Sue Ellen Berger, gives us a lot of reasons to sing along with them. Suave and effortlessly debonair, Gruber is downright Bing-y as Bob. He is a font of sophistication as an actor, singer and dancer. Gruber delivers flawlessly on the finger-snapping “Blue Skies” and his “White Christmas” is a nostalgic delight.

And Gruber’s duets with Michels also push the story along — the happenstance of “Love and the Weather” and the clarity of “Love, You Did Do Right by Me/How Deep Is the Ocean.” Michels is back in her natural habitat, leading with grace and class.

Vierling and Mislan shine on “I Love a Piano,” a number that features a robotic miniature Steinway turning about the stage. The pair’s dancing is silky with lovely flourishes. Mislan, making her debut as a lead, is eloquent as a dancer. Both her singing and acting also are commendable, even if she’s less certain in the latter.

For my money, the secondary roles are filled with the show’s gems. Thomas brings gravitas and grace to Waverly. With his deep voice and warm spirit, he makes a strong argument to be Minnesota’s James Earl Jones.

Michelle Barber also is excellent as the no nonsense truth-telling Martha Watson, the most contemporary figure in the show but one that is not out of place. When Bob asks Martha about how loud Ethel Merman could get, Martha shows her. And boy, what a blast.

Because of his gestures and intonations, Shad Hanley’s Ralph Sheldrake feels a little pushed and perhaps a little too much of the period.

The “Christmas” supporting players also shine, including Renee Guittar and Maureen Sherman-Mendez as Rita and Rhoda, the bright, Oxydol chorus girls who also are fans of Davis. They make a statement cooing “Philly-dilly-oh.”

One cannot make predictions in this business but based on her performance, Jenalia Valerio, who alternates the role of Susan Waverly with Malee Cenizal, has a bright future in the business. She is fully present and witty as the granddaughter.

Rush Benson is funny as the name-mangling impresario of Jimmy’s Back Room, and Jon Andrew Hegge plays the slow, deliberate Ezekiel Foster, a worker who came with the Columbia Inn, as a figure with a touch of the Snail With the Mail in “A Year With Frog and Toad.”

The weather outside may say anything but Christmas, and we may want to stay out and savor in, but Chanhassen is calling us inside. And its “Christmas” gives us lots of old-fashioned reasons to say yes.

When: 7:30 p.m. Tue., 1 & 7:30 p.m. Wed., 7:30 p.m. Thu.-Fri., 1 & 7:30 p.m. Sat., 6:30 p.m. Sun. Ends Jan. 25, 2025.

Where: Chanhassen Dinner Theatres, 501 W. 78th St., Chanhassen.

Tickets: $82-$112, 952-934-1525 or chanhassendt.com.