4/5

White Christmas may be as traditional as mince pies and mulled wine but this Nikolai Foster production takes a far from standard approach.

His musical respects the 1954 film starring Bing Crosby but his starting point is the 2004 Broadway production currently being staged in London’s West End.

It’s a version that tightens up the plot and includes a handful of numbers from Irving Berlin’s Great American Songbook that aren’t featured in the film including Blue Skies, which becomes the finale to the first half of this adaptation as gold ticker-tape descends.

That moment of glittery pizzazz acknowledges musical tropes while also fully utilising Matthew Wright’s design, which not only inhabits the vastness of the stage but is crisp in its simplicity.

Here an illuminated staircase arrives on a revolving stage, the set of a television show is constructed around the cast and a train is conjured from a giant Toblerone box.

Grand gestures, and they’re ably supported by equally grand choreography, with the ensemble dancing in vintage costumes while Tom Kelly directs a more than capable six-piece swing band that can be viewed intermittently throughout the three-hour show.

The production also works on a smaller scale, with superb casting for the central roles. Darren Day (Bob Wallace) is already well established as a song-and-dance man but Melanie La Barrie (Martha Watson, pictured) is a delight when she takes centre stage to belt out What Can You Do With A General?, while Holly Dale Spencer and Emma Williams show suitable sass as a burlesque sister act.

Such a cast keeps the production as fresh as snow and it culminates in an audience singalong of the title number that feels heart-warmingly free of irony.

Runs until January 24, box office: wyp.org.uk

Susan Darlington