OHIO Lancaster brings Christmas in July to the Lancaster Festival with Irving Berlin’s “White Christmas”

Ohio University Lancaster Theater, and its dedicated Director Victor Jones, continues their long-running partnership with the multi-week cultural extravaganza of the Lancaster Festival — this year with a special holiday twist and a festive case of Christmas in July.

This summer, audiences will have the opportunity to jump both forward into the Christmas season while also hopping back in time for the musical version of the holiday classic, Irving Berlin’s “White Christmas” (book by David Ives and Paul Blake), making this a true celebration of Christmas in July.

Based on the beloved 1954 film of the same name, the story follows Veterans Bob Wallace and Phil Davis, who have a successful song-and-dance act after World War II. With romance in mind, the two follow a duo of beautiful singing sisters en route to their Christmas show at a Vermont lodge, which just happens to be owned by Bob and Phil's former army commander. 

With a dazzling score featuring well-known songs like “Blue Skies,” “I Love a Piano,” “How Deep Is the Ocean” and the perennial title song, “White Christmas” is an uplifting, wholesome musical that will delight audiences of all ages. 

The cast and crew of OHIO Lancaster Theater’s production is a typically diverse group of veteran community actors, alums and current OHIO students. 

Paul Russell, an employee of the Ohio Department of Development and a recent grad of OHIO Lancaster (’24 AA, Electronic Media), will be portraying General Waverly. He says that he first got involved with OHIO Lancaster Theater around 10 years ago after seeing a show with his wife and feeling the urge to audition. Since then, Russell has kept coming back because the experience has continued to be rewarding.   

“I've done multiple shows here with Victor Jones, and…I don't know how every year I say, ‘Oh, it can't get better than this year!’ It's rewarding. Being one of the oldest members of the cast, I don't view [the students] as, ‘Oh, they're young, inexperienced.’ We're all actors. We're all equal. It's a phenomenal cast. Everybody's just insanely talented,” Russell said 

Emma Clemant, a third year communications major at OHIO Lancaster, first got involved when a theater class was recommended in place of a public speaking class and has since performed over a dozen plays on the OHIO Lancaster stage, sharing Russell’s excitement of the collaboration between community and campus.   

“I love it because you get to form bonds with people and then they just keep coming back because they love working here with Jones and working with different cast members,” Clemant added.

One of those OHIO Lancaster Theater alums that has returned is Brenton LeuVoy, a 2019 graduate with a Bachelor of Specialized Studies in Performing Arts Communication that now works as a fabricator for interactive science exhibits. LeuVoy is playing Bob Wallace (the role played by Bing Crosby in the film version) and also serves as assistant director of the production. 

“It's an interesting little homecoming experience for me,” LeuVoy said. “Just having been away for so long and now kind of being back. It's been really cool. And for this show in particular, I'm coming back and wearing a couple of different hats.”   

On the prospect of producing “White Christmas” in July, LeuVoy is excited to share the fun with audiences.   

“On some level, I think it's different enough that people almost kind of catch them off guard, but it also has some kind of air of familiarity to it. Plus, the fact that it's just such classic musical theater that I don't think that there's necessarily a bad time of year for it.” 

OHIO Lancaster Theater’s production of Irving Berlin’s “White Christmas” opens Friday, July 18, at 7 p.m., with shows running until Aug. 3, and two special engagements on Sunday, July 27, for the Lancaster Festival.  

To learn more about OUL Theater, visit https://www.ohio.edu/lancaster/theatre. For more details on the Lancaster Festival, visit https://www.lancasterfestival.org/