Take a much-loved Hollywood film, add a former boy soprano who’s name still says ‘Christmas’ to anyone who grew up in the 1980s, some tap dancing, a chorus and one of the most famous Christmas songs of all time and what do you have? A sure-fire must-see West End hit for Christmas, that’s what.

White Christmas The Musical is everything that’s good about Christmas in a two-and-a-half hour package of nostalgia, excitement, magic, music and the chance that dreams might come true. Wait – what am I saying – the chance? No, the reality. In this Christmas setting, dreams do come true!

And snow. Of course there’s snow. There’s snow outside the theatre, great thick flakes of it that sent the opening night audience into a flurry of excited shrieking. There’s snow on the stage. At one point, there’s even snow in the auditorium. Well, this is the original ‘white’ Christmas after all.

Following faithfully the story of the 1954 Michael Curtiz film starring Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye, with music by Irving Berlin, it tells the story of two ex-army pals turned entertainers as they team up with a pair of singing sisters to put on a show to save their former General’s Vermont ski lodge that’s fallen on hard times. This stage version, a West End premiere for the musical, has Aled Jones and former Strictly winner Tom Chambers leading a cast of 30; directed by Morgan Young, choreographed by Randy Skinner and featuring a 17-piece orchestra.

It’s slick and polished but with a huge Christmas heart; the cast is top notich and the sets are stylish – in this show even the barns are oozing festive spirit. The songs are rousing, there's a great set piece with the entire cast on a train to Vermont, and the final rendition of White Christmas practically brings the house down. It’s enchanting - a gem of Christmas magic in a world that suggests Christmas is only about shopping and children. Give your inner Scrooge the night off and go see it.

Irving Berlin’s White Christmas runs until January 3 at London’s Dominion Theatre, tickets £37.50 - £67.50; box office 0845 200 7982, or visit the website www.whitechristmasmusical.co.uk

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