1935 ETHEL WATERS Musical Dance Irving Berlin By BRUEHL

A bright splash of holiday cheer, Irving Berlin's White Christmas is a stage version of the classic 1954 Bing Crosby film. The plot is basically the same: two GIs (Brian D'Arcy James and Jeffry Denman in the Bing and Danny Kaye roles) become a song-and-dance team after World War II, run into a couple of dames (Anastasia Barzee and Meredith Patterson in the Rosemary Clooney and Vera-Ellen roles), then head up to Vermont with the girls to put on a show in a barn to save the inn run by their former commanding officer. The familiar songs are borrowed from the show ("Sisters, " "Snow, " "Count Your Blessings Instead of Sheep, " the title tune), augmented by other Berlin hits ("I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm, " "I Love a Piano, " "Let Yourself Go") and snappily orchestrated in period style by Larry Blank. The four principals are the ones who debuted the show in San Francisco in 2004, plus Karen Morrow as Martha Watson. Irving Berlin's White Christmas is already becoming a favorite for major repertory companies to perform during the holiday season. --David Horiuchi

Jay Records ( July 06, 2004 ), Genre: Pop Vocal

Irving Berlin may have been the best songwriter of the 20th century; he was certainly the best song publisher. Running his own company and promoting his own copyrights, Berlin was an expert at exploitation, finding new ways to sell old songs. One of his best ideas was to come up with, package, and sell to a studio a new movie musical that would feature both newly written material and some of his evergreens. Examples include Alexander's Ragtime Band (1938) and Blue Skies (1946), but Berlin really worked his recycling magic to perfection in 1954, when he managed to get into movie theaters both White Christmas and There's No Business Like Show Business within months of each other, the former in October, the latter in December. White Christmas was a sort of rough sequel to an earlier Berlin film that had employed all-new songs, Holiday Inn (1942). In that picture, Bing Crosby had played a song-and-dance man who runs a New England hotel open only on holidays; Fred Astaire was his sometime partner and rival in roma

Original Cast (Label)

A bright splash of holiday cheer, Irving Berlin's White Christmas is a stage version of the classic 1954 Bing Crosby film. The plot is basically the same: two GIs (Brian D'Arcy James and Jeffry Denman in the Bing and Danny Kaye roles) become a song-and-dance team after World War II, run into a couple of dames (Anastasia Barzee and Meredith Patterson in the Rosemary Clooney and Vera-Ellen roles), then head up to Vermont with the girls to put on a show in a barn to save the inn run by their former commanding officer. The familiar songs are borrowed from the show ("Sisters, " "Snow, " "Count Your Blessings Instead of Sheep, " the title tune), augmented by other Berlin hits ("I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm, " "I Love a Piano, " "Let Yourself Go") and snappily orchestrated in period style by Larry Blank. The four principals are the ones who debuted the show in San Francisco in 2004, plus Karen Morrow as Martha Watson. Irving Berlin's White Christmas is already becoming a favorite for major repertory companies to perform during the holiday season. --David Horiuchi

Irving Berlin's songs defined popular music in Tin Pan Alley, and once the talkies took over, the composer who helped shape ragtime found a second wind, churning out movie song after movie song that kept him in the entertainment spotlight. Irving Berlin in Hollywood focuses on these songs, made unforgettable by the likes of Fred Astaire, Ethel Merman, Judy Garland, and the full-throated Betty Hutton. It's infectious stuff, brimming with romance and timeless themes; even today it's hard not to be caught in the charms of songs like "Anything You Can Do" or "Cheek to Cheek." Because of licensing difficulties, there are some obvious omissions from some of Berlin's finest screen moments (no Holiday Inn or White Christmas tracks), but there are plenty of gems here (tracks from Easter Parade, Annie Get Your Gun, Top Hat, and Alexander's Ragtime Band). A few previously unreleased Merman tunes and great liner notes by Ian Whitcomb make this a must-have for musical lovers and one of the best collections of Berlin's music. --Jason Verlinde

Living Era ( March 17, 1992 ), Genre: Pop Vocal

Jasmine Records (UK) ( November 19, 2004 ), Genre: Jazz Instrument