Weston’s ‘White Christmas’ a joyful musical homage to home

By Lorien Strange
©2025 Telegraph Publishing LLC

I’m a stickler for reserving Christmas music for December, but since leaving Walker Farm Theater last Saturday evening, I’ve changed my tune.

The intimate theater, electric tap numbers, extraordinarily talented cast and loving homage to Vermont make the Weston Theater Company’s White Christmas a special summer treat.

This 2000 musical by David Ives and Paul Blake is based on the Bing Crosby-Rosemary Clooney-Danny Kaye-Vera-Ellen classic filled with Irving Berlin music. It tells the story of two successful post-World War II entertainment producers who pursue two their interests but end up coming to the aid of the their beloved former general, who’s Vermont inn is suffering from a lack of skiers during an unusually warm winter.

Weston seems a fitting setting for this staging.

With tinsel and ornaments hanging from the ceiling like a giant Christmas tree and gift wrap used as wallpaper, Frank J. Oliva’s clever set design literally wraps the audience in the present.

The earworms are a little different from the ones I get from watching the classic movie — rather than “Sisters,” it’s “Blue Skies” that keeps pleasantly repeating.  With his sonorous midtones floating above the stage and the audience, smooth-voiced Scott Redmond, as Bob Wallace, had me hooked.

Joy. It’s something that carries directly from the well-loved film to this stage production. It echoes throughout Felicity Stiverson’s exuberant choreography and ruffles through costume designer Jessica Crawford’s taffeta dresses. Redmond as Wallace and Conor McShane as Phil Davis are allowed to be goofy like the grown-up Army boys their characters are throughout the show.

McShane’s Davis shares a delightful chemistry with Katie Scarlett Brunson’s Judy Haynes, especially, as the song goes, when dancing. Brunson’s grace and poise as a dancer offset but don’t clash with McShane’s intentionally stiffer movements.

White Christmas seems to be the perfect platform to display the talents in every performer in the Weston Young Company. Keegan Sells was joyfully awe-inspiring as the sleeping man on the train who suddenly finds himself singing the merits of snow in a rich baritone. His seat mate, Jessica Olexy, filled the number with wonder without a trace of canned shock. And my younger brother is still giggling over Nicholas A. Wilkinson II’s perfectly executed first line as the battle-scarred stage manager.

Weston veteran Susan Haefner is engrossing as not-quite-ex-showstopper Martha Watson. At home in the spotlight, the spirit and warmth that Haefner brings to Watson makes the jubilant “I’m Happy” an unforgettable number.

Amid all the talented performers, it was Renée Albulario as Betty Haynes who stole the show for me. Her jazz trills are smooth and melodic but haven’t been polished into sterility. The richness of her voice is stellar in her solos and elevates every song she’s in; her “Love, You Didn’t Do Right By Me” is heart-stopping.

Weston excels at absorbing the audience in the story without directly breaking the fourth wall, which it executed perfectly again in White Christmas. Be prepared to be part of the story, potentially called out as freckle-faced, dog-faced Haynes by General Henry Waverly himself.

Whether it’s ensemble characters conspiring, a stage manager attentive to every detail of the musical-within-the-musical, a strained conversation between budding love interests, or even a glimpse of the incredibly talented musicians hidden off to the side of the stage, you’re almost encouraged to peek into the background of the main action — an aspect of the classic film that director Susanna Gellert and set designer Oliva have retained brilliantly.

You’re bound to lock eyes with almost everyone in the cast for a few moments, but Weston veteran David Bonanno takes this art to an unparalleled level of mastery. General Waverly’s emotional speeches could easily wax overkill, but Bonanno delivers potent sincerity. He gives the appropriate gravity to the reality of war, but amid the glowing score of White Christmas, Bonanno’s eyes glitter with gratitude. And while he and Haefner are a joy to see separately, the two together are an absolute treat.

Everyone involved in this production is clearly having fun creating a show set in Vermont in Vermont. Costume designer Crawford wraps up the ensemble warm on the train in fun, bulky cloaks and puts Albulario in a lovely blue plaid coat dress. Tom Aulino, another Weston favorite who’s new to Walker Farm, is delightful as that one stubborn, good-hearted old man we all know. And the rest of the cast — especially Haefner — is as wry as they please with every comment about what it is and isn’t like to live in the Green Mountain State.

And that’s a masterstroke with this production. There are so many nods throughout the show to both the awe- and rant-inspiring aspects of Vermont.

Living in Vermont can be difficult. Weston’s White Christmas is a reminder of just how lucky we are to be here.

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White Christmas runs at Walker Farm, 705 Main St. in Weston, through Sunday, Aug.  10. The show runs two hours and 15 minutes with an intermission. Matinees are Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays, with evening performances Tuesdays through Saturdays. Tickets prices are $25 (V-Tix) to $74 and tickets are selling briskly.  To purchase tickets click here or call the Box Office at 802-824-5288.