White Christmas

On November 12 I went to watch my brother perform in Irving Berlin's White Christmas at the Orpheum Theater in San Francisco.

My brother, Alex Hsu—you can see his White Christmas Blog here—was quite good. As an ensemble cast member, he has to know way more dance numbers than any of the stars of the show and it seems the ensemble generally has to go through a much more grueling routine from curtain to encore than the headliners and yet the stars get the acclaim.

The musical was quite enjoyable though the script seemed a little flat with only a handful of minor "blips" of good humor and the musical dance numbers to carry the audience through the show. Character development was about what you would expect in a production like this and in general there were more scene-stealers than usual (Ezekiel, Martha Watson, the Dance Captain, and Susan Waverly all come to mind), which makes for a livelier show, I think.

One oddity was the fact that my brother was the only minority in the entire cast. The story, set in 1954 Vermont, precludes the casting of an inordinate amount of minorities but it was somewhat strange to see a singular "Chinaman" prancing about on stage when even the very title of the musical evokes images of total "paysage blanc". On the same topic, I think my brother was better than some of the other members of the ensemble but was relegated to the back row (traditionally reserved for those dancers good enough to make the troupe but not good enough for "front and center".) I don't think it's because he's a minority in the sense that the director or dance captain is racist, but I do think it's because he's a minority in a play that takes place in the whitest of white settings.

Anyway, if you are looking for a good night out (or in our case late-afternoon-matinee out) on the town, please do check out White Christmas!

By the bye, does anyone know if the phrase "front and center" originated from theater or from the military? I'd like to know.