Ringing in the season with "White Christmas"

For those who can’t get enough Christmas cheer each season, Las Cruces Community Theatre has the recipe for a festive December. This year’s holiday offering is Irving Berlin’s “White Christmas, the Musical,” directed and choreographed by LCCT staple Janet Beatty Cold.

Based on the beloved 1954 Paramount Pictures film starring Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, Rosemary Clooney, and Vera-Ellen, this heartwarming musical adaptation features 17 Irving Berlin songs, including well-known standards like “Blue Skies,” “I Love a Piano,” “Sisters” and the classic title song, with book by David Ives and Paul Blake.

It’s not Beatty Cold’s first experience with this show, and she aims to capture the nostalgia of a holiday favorite by leveraging some recent tech upgrades at LCCT to bring more Christmas magic to the stage.

“In 2012, I had the wonderful opportunity to play Betty Haynes at LCCT in Irving Berlin’s “White Christmas,” opposite Brandon Brown as Bob Wallace, and directed by my late husband Patrick Payne,” Beatty Cold explained. “What resulted was a beautiful holiday production that sold out every performance and produced cherished memories for me.”

The only thing missing from that production, she said, was snow in the final scene. When LCCT purchased a snow machine for “Elf the Musical” in 2022, “White Christmas” popped back up onto Beatty Cold’s radar screen.

“I just kept thinking what a treat it would be to add snow, gorgeous new costumes, and all LCCT’s lighting, sound and projection upgrades to this production,” she said. “So, 13 years later, I submitted White Christmas to LCCT for consideration for me to direct, choreograph, and costume.”

This new production features Kristan Hodgkins and Anna Robillard as sisters Betty and Judy Haynes, with Phil Spillman as Bob Wallace and William Goldstein as Phil Davis. Hodgkins also serves as the show’s music director.

The production’s cast and crew are proof that when LCCT calls this a “family musical,” they mean it in more ways than one. Robillard’s husband, Dan, a veteran Broadway audio engineer, and son, Ethan, will be in the tech booth operating lighting, sound, and video, and her youngest children, Ruby and Oliver, will join her on stage in their LCCT debuts as part of the children’s ensemble.

Other families in the show’s ensemble whose faces will be familiar to many patrons of LCCT and A Children’s Theater of the Mesilla Valley are Arrow, Charlie, Ezra, and Penny Bever (along with their mom, Laura, who serves as the theater’s resident photographer), and Eric and Shari DuMond, whose daughter-in-law, Millennia, is a newcomer to the LCCT stage this season.

Behind the scenes, sisters Jolene and Braily Peabody will serve as stage managers after working together previously in “School of Rock” and “Cabaret” at LCCT. And Beatty Cold was even able to persuade husband Bob Cold to make his theatrical debut after years as an enthusiastic audience member.

Rounding out the production’s “theater family” are Hannah Askew, Makynzie Barrios, Jonathan Danielson, Chase Fraembs, Oliver Gier, Chelsey Juenemann, Rose LeDuc, Olivia Miller, and Tim Neuenschwander.

Irving Berlin’s “White Christmas” opens Friday, Dec. 5, and runs through Sunday, Dec. 21. Performances begin at 7:30 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays and 2 p.m. on Sundays. This production also features a special Thursday performance at 7:30 p.m. on Dec. 18, as well as Saturday matinees at 2 p.m. on Dec. 13 and 20.

Tickets are $20 for adults, $16 for seniors 65 and older, students, and active-duty military, $12 for children ages 3 to 17, and $5 for student rush tickets with a valid student ID, if seats are available. Seating is already limited, so patrons are encouraged to purchase tickets as early as possible.

For tickets and more information, visit lcctnm.org and follow on social media at facebook.com/lcctnm and instagram.com/lcctnm.