A Blizzard in Walnut Creek

Ever since Bing Crosby sauntered across a Hollywood movie set crooning, “I’m dreaming of a white Christmas ...”, Californians have been hankering for a snowy holiday fix.

Fortunately, Diablo Theatre Company provides a Walnut Creek blizzard of nostalgia and love with the second annual presentation of White Christmas, running Nov. 25 through Dec. 4 at the Lesher Center for the Arts.

The Broadway adaptation of the 1954 film follows a two-man dancing and singing team as they become top theatrical producers, save a small Vermont inn from bankruptcy and (what else?) fall indirectly into a snowbank of love.

This year, Amanda Folena has taken up the mantle of director, adding new architecture to the sets and her distinctive take on the production.

“White Christmas is one of my favorite movies. I listened to Bing Crosby. I actually still have the tape of him, like, you know, an actual tape you put in a tape recorder?” she asks, signaling the chasm she bridges between old-world technology and modern-day theater.

It’s a comfortable stretch for the San Mateo resident, who also serves as casting director and company manager with San Jose’s City Lights Theater Company and has worked with San Jose Repertory Company and Center REPertory Company.

“As a kid, I loved the magical quality the movie had. My favorite song was Love You Didn’t Do Right by Me,” she recalls. “I didn’t know what that song meant, but the power of that number was stunning.”

As a director, Folena is attracted to the melodic lyricism of the movie’s spoken lines.

“The rhythm of the lines is something that isn’t alive in our culture anymore: the cleanness, the musicality. We don’t take the time to really listen. There’s a back and forth in the singing that continues into the dialogue.”

At the same time, she found the adaptation of the script for the stage production to be “a little contrite,” especially for the four lead characters.

“They needed underbelly that has substance to them. They are falling in love, so bringing out their relationships was important to me.”

Counterintuitively, focusing on the supporting characters added dimension to the show. Each role received scrutiny to unearth the narrative arc.

But vigorous examination didn’t extend to Folena’s working relationship with choreographer Robyn Tribuzi, a collaboration modeled on easy trust.

“We talked about the pieces we were going to focus on and what they needed to accomplish. I’d tell her this music has to be thriving, pulsating, and she’d go off and do her thing,” Folena laughed.

The five-week rehearsal process resulted in some innovations—a lazy susan-type turntable will scene shift and spin the far-from-lazy dancers—and a great deal of respect for the cast.

“Tom Gorrebeeck is our Phil,” Folena explains. “He’s an amazing actor and mover and he can act, tap and sing, so I can’t ask for anything more than that.”

Folena says that artists who want to perform should go to auditions and follow that dream, but for her, academia had a pull. She has a BA in Theatre from the University of Southern California and an MFA in Acting from Purdue University.

“I want to teach in a university and give back to students. But it depends on what you want to do,” she advises.

The one directive she shares without waver to actors, playwrights and directors alike is staying current — keeping the pulse of what people are experiencing today.

“What we must have is anything that is willing to change and give over to risk. We can’t advance in theater if we are not willing to do that.”

With White Christmas, Folena will reach back into her childhood, when the magic of theater captured her heart and gave her director’s eye a lens for looking forward to the new thought processes she sees on the horizon.

WHAT: Diablo Theatre Company’s production of “Irving Berlin’s White Christmas”
WHEN: 8 p.m. Nov. 25, 26, Dec. 1, 2, 3;  7:30 p.m. Nov. 27, 29, 30, Dec.4;  2:30 p.m. Nov. 26, 27, Dec. 3, 4
WHERE: Lesher Center for the Arts, 1601 Civic Dr., Walnut Creek
RUNNING TIME: 2 hours, one intermission
TICKETS: $24-$44 (925) 943-7469; www.lesherartscenter.org, www.diablotheatrecompany.org