Everyone knows White Christmas as a feel-good 1954 film starring Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, Rosemary
Clooney and Vera-Ellen — along with songs by Irving Berlin. But it’s also a stage musical that features
the classic Berlin songs and, as a treat for Floridians, plenty of snow.
SUMMER 2018 | artsLife 69
PHOTO BY JEREMY DANIEL PHOTOGRAPHY
Not only will Orlando theater-lovers have
a chance to see some of the most in-demand
shows on Broadway, school kids will
also enjoy exposure to world-class theater.
Ramsberger says that members of touring
companies, as they usually do when visiting
Orlando, will conduct workshops in schools
and at the arts center’s own Dr. Phillips Center
Florida Hospital School of the Arts.
“Extending the arts beyond our facility
and into the community is one of our top priorities,”
she adds.
Here’s what to expect when the curtain
goes up:
■ Jersey Boys (October 30–November 4).
This jukebox musical, based on the timeless
hit songs and the behind-the-scenes travails
of Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons, won
and the Lawrence Olivier Award, also for
Best Musical, in 2009.
The New York production closed last year
after 4,642 shows at the August Wilson Theatre,
making it the 12th-longest running show
in Broadway history. It then re-opened off-
Broadway at New World Stages, where it
continues to thrive.
The success of Jersey Boys paved the way
such as Beautiful about Carole King and On
Your Feet! about Emilio and Gloria Estefan.
Jersey Boys, structured as four “seasons,”
is told from the point of view of each group
member, including Valli. The story of four
tough street kids from the wrong side of the
tracks in Newark, New Jersey, struck a literal
grew up listening to Four Seasons’ songs. But
it also earned legions of new fans for the
quartet and its seemingly ageless frontman.
“This is a taste of reality, about four guys
who grew up in a certain way, in a certain
period of time, who, with all odds against
them, became successful,” says Valli, whose
career enjoyed a resurgence in the wake of
the musical.
You surely know the songs — “December
1963 (Oh, What a Night),” “Sherry,” “Rag
Doll,” “Walk Like a Man” and “Working My
Way Back to You” — among many other
chart-toppers. And you know Valli’s fabulous
falsetto, which makes his voice one of the