Why did Holiday Inn appeal to you?

First and foremost, the music. I am passionate about tap dancing, and Irving Berlin has been a staple throughout my life in the studio and on stage. It makes sense that I would work with this music for my directorial debut. I also wanted to bring a fairly traditional musical to the Hayes audience.

Sally Dashwood. Photo © Ruby Sam Photography

How different is the musical to the famous 1942 film?

As a musical, Holiday Inn maintains much of what the film offers by evoking the kind of sentimentality you feel when watching an old classic at Christmas time. The lead characters [will] feel familiar. There are, however, differences in plot points, gorgeous new arrangements of Irving Berlin classics and some aspects of the characters that feel new, including a queer-coded, local handywoman/fairy godmother type, who befriends the leading man and starts an unlikely friendship. In the film version, there is a scene in which Bing Crosby and Marjorie Reynolds participate in the dehumanising practice of blackface. Thankfully, this does not occur in the musical.  

How does it feel moving from choreography to direction? 

The choreographer’s role is...