Review of A Piano Full of Feathers – The Origin Story of White Christmas Struggles with Pitch | stage

TThe piano is filled with feathers to reduce noise. Irving Berlin loved to write at night, and feathers were his way of dampening the strings so as not to disturb the neighbors. It is also filled with feathers, in Jane Livingstone’s play on the writing and effect of a White Christmas, to indicate the impending snowfall – although curiously, when the odd ending comes, it is a flurry of regular snow on the stage.

It is also strange that a play about the world’s most famous Christmas song is performed in October. No matter: April Chamberlain’s production sounds like a show that will be revived for the upcoming holiday seasons.

Is this a good thing? Well, it’s an innocent enough excuse to show off Berlin’s songbook, gamely sung by Frances Thorburn and Ross Forbes MacKenzie with some lovely harmonies by musical director Hilary Brooks. From “When I Lost You” to argumentative dinnertime, with transitions to patriotic “God Bless America” ​​and hilarious sisters, there’s a lot to enjoy here.

However, it is a play throughout. First we get a false start featuring Thorburn as Moneta, the Roman goddess of memory, presenting a theme about a past that is as quickly forgotten as her white garments. Forbes Mackenzie then enters through the hall, meek and apologetic in suit and briefcase, but taking a long time to announce his purpose. After arriving at Tin Pan Alley in New York, he eventually admits that he is the human embodiment of White Christmas.

It’s a new idea, but it’s been applied inconsistently. Livingston’s play, organized as a series of sketches, is sometimes the story of the song itself, with its “27 simple lines,” and sometimes the story of the composer, a poor immigrant who can only play black notes on the keyboard.

“A Piano Full of Feathers” reads like an illustrated Wikipedia page, too fragmented to hold much cohesion or to give its emotional moments emotional weight. Too often, the pretense of a story is abandoned entirely in favor of an enjoyable collection of songs that, along with the thriving performances, are the main strength of the production.