Irving Berlin

This is the most Irving Berlin-est time of the year, what with "White Christmas" being heard, in one form or another, a zillion times. But it's really always Berlin time, since the songwriter, who died in 1989 at the age of 101, was such a prodigious creator of treasurable hits. A sampling of that legacy will be celebrated in "A Concert Tribute to Irving Berlin" opening Friday at the Everyman Theatre. This is the third in the theater's series of cabaret shows over the past few years guided by music director Howard Breitbart.

Irving Berlin wrote "White Christmas," one of the biggest-selling songs of all time, with tongue planted firmly in cheek. Although the wistful tune soothed homesick soldiers in such God-awful places as Guadalcanal more than half a century ago, and no doubt it still plays in Kandahar today, Berlin most likely wrote what he called "the best song that anybody's ever written" somewhere in the sunny Southwest, probably while sitting by a swanky hotel swimming...

It would be impossible, not to mention foolhardy, to choose one contender for the title of America's greatest songwriter. But if such a designation absolutely had to be made, a lot of money would be riding on Irving Berlin. There is such a startling amount of quality in the quantity of Berlin's songs (more than 1,200), and a remarkable consistency in terms of communicative power. A hearty sampling of that power is on display in "A Concert Salute to Irving Berlin," the fast-paced cabaret show onstage through the weekend at the Everyman Theatre.

Toby's Dinner Theatre of Columbia is offering what has become a seasonal favorite — Irving Berlin's "White Christmas, The Musical" in evening and matinee performances through Jan. 8. Not just another holiday show, "White Christmas, The Musical" is also a celebration of the American popular song as defined by its prolific composer Irving Berlin. The show gives us with such favorites as "Blue Skies," "I Love a Piano," and "How Deep is the Ocean," along with introducing lesser-known Berlin tunes.

Toby's Dinner Theatre of Columbia is offering what has become a seasonal favorite — Irving Berlin's "White Christmas, The Musical" in evening and matinee performances through Jan. 8. Not just another holiday show, "White Christmas, The Musical" is also a celebration of the American popular song as defined by its prolific composer Irving Berlin. The show gives us with such favorites as "Blue Skies," "I Love a Piano," and "How Deep is the Ocean," along with introducing lesser-known Berlin tunes.

The stage pulsated with energy at St. John's College during the weekend when the Talent Machine Company opened Irving Berlin's Annie Get Your Gun, featuring its younger performers in the 7-to-14 age group. With its depiction of authentic American icons such as Buffalo Bill, Annie Oakley and Sitting Bull, the 1946 classic proved an ideal choice for this 50-member cast. Every member of the cast exuded high-voltage energy with talent to match and a high degree of professionalism that sprang from rigorous rehearsal.

1922: Irving Berlin's "April Showers"1923: James P. Johnson pens his "Charleston"1925: The Grand Ole Opry is born

Period concert -- Musica Antiqua of Maryland will perform its annual concert at 2 p.m. today at Liriodendron Mansion, 502 W. Gordon St., Bel Air. The concert will feature performers in period costumes using period instruments to play light classics, show tunes, ragtime, Irving Berlin, traditional Irish and Scottish music, and a Yo-Yo Ma piece, Gabriel's Oboe. Free. 410-529-0791.

Saturday evening was indeed "A Grand Night for Singing" as the Arundel Vocal Arts Society presented a generously programmed evening of selections by Richard Rodgers, Irving Berlin, Stephen Sondheim and others.Thanks to spirited singing by conductor Glenette Schumacher's choir of 60, excellent solo work from sopranos Vicki Estep and Sally Gilles, tenor Jeff Sneeringer and baritone James Handakis, and first-rate accompanying by pianist Cynthia Slate, the concert provided a lovely opportunity to appreciate anew the melodic magic of the American musical stage.

150 years ago in The Sun July 25, 1849: We learn by extras of the Savannah Georgian and Republican, dated Saturday evening last, stating that the remaining Seminole Indians have again commenced hostilities, and will probably give more trouble.100 years ago in The Sun July 31, 1899: The St. James Hotel, Charles and Centre streets, was much damaged by fire early yesterday morning. The hotel has been closed for the past two weeks undergoing repairs caused by a fire on July 3. The building was left in the care of William Waldman, a watchman.

Well along in rehearsal at the Naval Academy's Mahan Hall, the cast of "Annie Get Your Gun" seemed ideally suited to American composer Irving Berlin's musical story of American heroine Annie Oakley. At a recent rehearsal, cast members leaped from their seats onto the stage when the music director summoned them for the opening number, "There's No Business Like Show Business." Berlin would have been pleased by these enthusiastic midshipmen - few of whom were even born at the time of his death in 1989 at age 101. A World War I veteran who toured with servicemen during World War II, Berlin wrote "Annie Get Your Gun" shortly after returning from the war. The musical tells the story of sharpshooting country girl Annie Oakley, who joined Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show and became world-famous for her marksmanship, defeating vaudevillian/sharpshooter Frank Butler in competition.

It would be impossible, not to mention foolhardy, to choose one contender for the title of America's greatest songwriter. But if such a designation absolutely had to be made, a lot of money would be riding on Irving Berlin. There is such a startling amount of quality in the quantity of Berlin's songs (more than 1,200), and a remarkable consistency in terms of communicative power. A hearty sampling of that power is on display in "A Concert Salute to Irving Berlin," the fast-paced cabaret show onstage through the weekend at the Everyman Theatre.

This is the most Irving Berlin-est time of the year, what with "White Christmas" being heard, in one form or another, a zillion times. But it's really always Berlin time, since the songwriter, who died in 1989 at the age of 101, was such a prodigious creator of treasurable hits. A sampling of that legacy will be celebrated in "A Concert Tribute to Irving Berlin" opening Friday at the Everyman Theatre. This is the third in the theater's series of cabaret shows over the past few years guided by music director Howard Breitbart.

Our faithful Chestertown correspondent and longtime friend, Douglas R. Price, who in his younger days was a member of Dwight D. Eisenhower's White House staff, sent me a letter the other day explaining the history of "I Like Ike," which became his former boss' 1952 campaign song. Price said he has been annoyed that the two authors of the "I Like Ike" slogan have been more or less forgotten, and is determined to set the record straight. "The origin of the Irving Berlin 'I Like Ike' song dates back to a Broadway musical titled Call Me Madam, starring Ethel Merman with lyrics by Irving Berlin," wrote Price, who is finishing up his book, They Liked Ike, about Eisenhower's 1952 campaign.

Fred Astaire by Joseph Epstein Yale University Press / 224 pages / $22 Fred Astaire, writes Joseph Epstein, the veteran critic and essayist, "was the very model ... of the democratic dandy, itself an innovative figure." He adds that G. Bruce Boyer called Astaire in his movie roles "the democratic ideal: a classless aristocrat." If T.S. Eliot calling the mature Henry James "a European of no known country" isn't the same thing, it's close enough. Astaire's career is full of paradoxes like these.

Orlando Franklin Johnson, a retired Baltimore barber who performed in the stage and film versions of This Is the Army during World War II, died of heart failure Jan. 2 at his Edmondson Village home of more than half a century. He was 88. Mr. Johnson was the son of a farmer and raised in the Calvert County community of Mutual. As a youngster, he worked with his father during the winter shucking oysters for a Broomes Island packing company. He attended the two-room Pink School in Island Creek and graduated in 1936 from the old Central Industrial High School in Prince Frederick.

The Arundel Vocal Arts Society will present an eclectic mix of familiar and obscure songs from musical theater Saturday at the Pascal Center for the Performing Arts at Anne Arundel Community College.The program, "A Grand Night for Singing," pays particular tribute to Irving Berlin and includes the work of such other musical theater luminaries as Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II, Stephen Sondheim, and Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt of "Fantasticks" fame.Under the direction of Glenette Schumacher, the group will sing Berlin tunes from 1911 through 1946, the era in which he penned many of his most popular songs.

Period concert -- Musica Antiqua of Maryland will perform its annual concert at 2 p.m. today at Liriodendron Mansion, 502 W. Gordon St., Bel Air. The concert will feature performers in period costumes using period instruments to play light classics, show tunes, ragtime, Irving Berlin, traditional Irish and Scottish music, and a Yo-Yo Ma piece, Gabriel's Oboe. Free. 410-529-0791.