Love, friendship and loyalty in the aftermath of the Second World War

FOR the last few years during the Christmas season the Mill at Sonning has been offering something more sophisticated and satisfying than your standard panto.

Following well-deserved success with Top Hat and High Society, the company has another winner on its hands with this stage adaptation of the classic Hollywood musical, White Christmas.

The 1954 film sprang from the song by Irving Berlin, famously covered by Bing Crosby and one of the world’s bestselling records. The melodious charm and wistfulness of that number run through the whole show even though it contains plenty of other classics ranging from Sisters to How Deep is the Ocean to Blue Skies.

A prologue set in the closing days of the Second World War establishes the singing chops of soldiers Bob Wallace and Phil Davis as well as their respect for their commanding officer, General Waverly.

Ten years later the duo have achieved fame as a song-and-dance act while romantically things are going well after they meet the singing Haynes sisters, Betty and Judy.

A mildly devious bit of plotting ensures that they all end up at the same Vermont hotel which happens to be owned by — surprise! — a retired General Waverly, who may have been a good military leader but is not much cop on civvy street.

To save him from bankruptcy and to draw the crowds to a still snowless Vermont, the quartet naturally decide to put on a show, in a barn.

Do they succeed? And will snow finally be falling over Vermont in time for December 25? Answers on a Christmas card, please.

And that’s it, essentially. Except of course there are obstacles on the path to true love, particularly between the more shy of the couples, Bob and Betty, nicely interpreted by Jason Kajdi and Gabriella Williams. A minor subplot involves the question of whether the General, whose gruff good heart is well suggested by Mark Curry, will return to the colours.

The central quartet is completed by Connor Hughes as Phil and Nic Myers as Judy. They are supported by a uniformly strong and exuberant cast of dancers and singers under the lead choreographer Gary Lloyd and with a spectrum of costume changes (Natalie Titchener), running from slick to kitsch.

As with other seasonal productions at the Mill, you wonder how they manage, Tardis-like, to pack so much into the small stage. But director Jonathan O’Boyle carries it all off stylishly and to the delight of the audience.

White Christmas runs until Saturday, January 25. If you don’t make it before Christmas Day, catch up with it afterwards. It will be an antidote to New Year blues.

Philip Gooden