For young actress, 'White Christmas' lets her celebrate Irving Berlin

Amy Bodnar started out as a ballet dancer, but became a star by singing in musicals.

[...] she says, the career track has been much better.

Bodnar says she remembers seeing the classic 1954 film in her youth, long before it was resurrected in San Francisco as a stage musical in 2004.

On screen, "White Christmas" was another Bing Crosby buddy picture, with the crooner joining Danny Kaye (who replaced an ailing Donald O'Connor) as a pair of WWII soldiers turned Broadway big-shots.

The duo picks up and heads to Vermont, only to discover and help out their old superior, Maj. General John Waverly, who's stuck running a ski lodge with no snow.

Having the opportunity to perform this music is really a treat, and we get to perform it on this tour with an unbelievable orchestra.

Bodnar -- who has been on Broadway in the revival of "Oklahoma!" and the original staging of "Ragtime" -- actually had a leg up on Betty before she joined the tour, having played the character at the Denver Center revival in 2007.

Bodnar also says the producers had the luxury of excising some numbers from the original lineup and adding songs from across Berlin's stunning catalog.