Skirts 1944

Christmas traditions may come and go, but watching the film WHITE CHRISTMAS has always been an obligatory part of the holiday season for me. And for the past 20 years or so, audiences can experience Irving Berlin's classic  live on stage. The Shaw Festival is presenting their joyous version this year on the Festival stage and the result is pure technicolor heaven.

Margaret “Margo” Rogers Kurtz, author of the beloved World War II home front memoir My Rival, the Sky, died February 5, 2019 at her home in Toluca Lake, California, at age 103½. She is survived by her daughter, Broadway and television star Swoosie Kurtz, and preceded in death by her husband, Col. Frank Kurtz, the most decorated Air Force pilot of World War II.

On the evening of Saturday, February 25th 2017 at the Koch Theater, a triple bill showed off the versatility and genius of Jerome Robbins, who with George Balanchine was a Founding Choreographer of NYCB.

After the 1954 New York City Ballet premiere of George Balanchine's The Nutcracker, the production reigned supreme as the gold standard for the holiday classic even though William Christensen's excellent 1944 version was the first one ever staged in this country. By now, however, countless superb iterations of the ballet have spawned from coast to coast as well as in Alaska and Hawaii. Many of them, in my opinion, are better than Mr. B's. That may be why the matinee I saw on December 27th 2014 at the Koch Theater in Lincoln Center seemed like an obligatory musty relic that had been dragged out of the attic for yet another season.

It's Yuletide at Arizona Broadway Theatre, and the musical du jour is the ever-appealing White Christmas, served with all the sugar and spice that has made Irving Berlin's classic a seasonal favorite. In his directorial/choreographic debut at ABT, Stephen Casey has imbued this production with distinctive style and energy. His ensemble has laced the show's punch with elixirs of song and dance that leave you wanting an encore. A special moment in this production is Rori Nogee's oomphatic delivery of Let Me Sing and I'm Happy.

Exquisitely directed and acted with a storyline that truly connects with audiences, it deserves a full house every night.

The Library of Congress has today announced its annual list of 25 films that will be included in the National Film Registry.