Local actor lands first speaking role

If White Christmas isn't Paige Tirs favourite holiday story, it should be.

The St. Albert dancer has landed her first speaking role in Irving Berlin’s White Christmas, now playing at Sherwood Park’s Festival Place until Thursday, Dec. 30.

“This show really brings out the holiday spirit. It's a feel-good show that leaves everyone feeling happy, especially with the cold weather and snow we're having right now,” Tirs says.

Tirs is a cigarette girl in one of the early scenes and after she sheds her cutesy outfit, she puts on dancing shoes and hoofs it across the stage in a variety of technically demanding numbers.

“I've always wanted to act, but was never given the chance. In high school I was always given a dance part. But acting for me is about the unknown. It's a new and exciting experience,” says the 2007 Bellerose High grad.

Directed by Shelley Tookey, the musical follows the same formula as the Bing Crosby-Rosemary Clooney 1954 Paramount release. World War II veterans Bob Wallace and Phil Davis, a successful song and dance duo, follow two sisters as they travel to a Vermont inn that just happens to be owned by the boys' former army commander.

Wallace and Davis discover the inn is near bankruptcy and decide to put on a great show that will fill every seat in the house. And while they set out to save their commander's failing inn, a series of romantic upsets occur.

This adaptation has a heart-warming score that features 17 Berlin songs. There are some of the old charmers such as Sisters, The Best Things Happen While You're Dancing, Blue Skies and of course the titular song White Christmas.

One of the new numbers added is I Love a Piano, a seven-minute full company routine performed on a series of specially constructed miniature grand pianos. “I'm a tap dancer at heart, but this is a real challenge. It's very tricky. You're dancing on a small surface and when you do a spin, you hope you won't fall off.”

Although the musical adheres to the movie theme, there are differences in characters' relationships. But with the film version a traditional must-see for many viewers, how does a live show compete?

“Well, it is a live show. It makes you feel you're actually there experiencing it. It's happening right in front of you and that makes the magic more real.”