Review: White Christmas, Liverpool Empire

Look at that picture. Just look at it. It's a chorus line in snowflake jumpers, seeming for all the world as if they could burst with festive cheer. This alone will tell you all you need to know about White Christmas, the show so good the Empire couldn't resist and cancelled its usual panto for just ten performances of this lavish, feelgood show. Scrooges can give this one a wide berth. An adaptation of the old Bing Crosby movie Holiday Inn, White Christmas is a seasonal tale from a bygone age crammed with modern theatrical twists. Sisters, Blue Skies, Count Your Blessings and Let Me Sing and I'm Happy are just some of the old favourites that help to tell the tale of Bob Wallace (Aled Jones) and Phil Davis (Adam Cooper), two army pals who find fame after the war as entertainers, and then find fate takes a hand upon meeting two glamorous sisters about to get on a train in the other direction. White Christmas has as much old school charm in its story and songs as it does finely-tuned state-of-the-art stagecraft that is really something to behold. Despite the odd duff American accent (there's always some), a more impressive and heartfelt production you'll be hard to find. Don't miss the chance to catch it -- a happy Christmas is assured.