Ringing in 2012

Usually for New Years Eve, we have a few friends over for dinner then watch cheesy movies until it's time for the Waterford crystal ball to drop in Time Square. This year, we decided to play it low key and opted for something that required less planning an organization.

Caesar found half-price orchestra tickets for Irving Berlin's White Christmas so we got all gussied up and spent the evening enjoying some great music from the Irving Berlin songbook: the classics from the movie, such as White Christmas and Snow, and songs from other productions, including Blue Skies from the musical Betsy and the song I Love a Piano. For the most part, the stage musical sticks to the main story of the movie -- song and dance team Wallace and Davis going to an inn in Vermont that's owned by their former General in the army. Songs are moved around and the storyline tweaked here and there, but they work well on stage. One of the best changes was how the Snow sequence was staged: on the train, Phil and Judy try to convince Bob and Betty that the snow in Vermont is worth the trip. Instead of the four of them singing the song (à la Bing Crosby, Rosemary Clooney, Vera-Ellen, and Danny Kaye), the entire cast slowly fills the train car and sings along about the joys of snow.

After the show, I carefully navigated the thick fog and found our way back to Long Beach, just in time to watch about an hour of Kathy Griffin torture Anderson Cooper before the ball dropped. Then, off to bed.

A nice, quiet New Year celebration -- just what we both needed after the crazy year that was 2011.

Image from Chicago Critic.