After opening the NorShor Theatre in 2018, Jen Burleigh-Bentz and Shad Hanley have reunited after years apart in Chanhassen Dinner Theatres’ ‘White Christmas’.

‘White Christmas’ is a warm holiday musical that includes the music of Irving Berlin. Songs like: Happy Holiday, Snow, Count Your Blessings instead of Sheep, Blue Skies, and White Christmas bring that classic feeling to the stage.

Even though the show opened in October, Jen says there’s a lot of Christmas Spirit in the audience. “Last night at our preview, we had a man dress up as Santa,” says Jen, “and some women had Christmas outfits and we’re like, ‘you know what? For some people, Christmas can be any time.’ For us, it’s just really early this year.”

The story of White Christmas follows two World War II Veterans that work together in a song and dance duo group. They meet up with two singing and dancing sisters who are set to perform at a local inn. When they discover the inn is struggling they decide to put on a big show to draw in business.

You can find ticket information for the show on their website here.

Shad is very excited that he’s been reunited with his Mamma Mia counterpart. Back in 2018 the pair were leads in the Duluth Playhouse’s production of Mamma Mia, which was the first show that invited audiences back to the fully restored NorShor Theatre . After that, Jen and Shad hadn’t performed in a show together… until now.

“I’ve been waiting for this,” says Shad, “I’ve been so stoked for her to finally get here. So we’re super glad to be doing this show.”

Even though the two are in the ensemble, there is a lot of work happening behind the scenes as both Jen and Shad are understudying other roles. Shad says the understudy rehearsals are the part of the process he’s looking forward to do the most with Jen. “We get to see a lot of each other now, which is awesome,” he says.

‘White Christmas’ is now playing at CDT and runs through January 25th.