CHANHASSEN — Spring has arrived! The flowers are blooming and the smell of springtime freshness is in the air — at least at the Chanhassen Dinner Theatres.

The theater was awarded the task of creating a stage musical from the 1948 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film "Easter Parade" starring Fred Astaire, Judy Garland and Ann Miller.

And why not? After all, a stage version of "Irving Berlin's White Christmas" drew enthusiastic crowds during its engagement at St. Paul's Ordway Theater for the Performing Arts. And so writer Tom Briggs was called to create a book on which to hang the wonderful songs and lyrics of Berlin.

Briggs' approach is to give the story more depth than the film version. It is a simple one.

The veteran song-and-dance duo of Don Hewes (Michael Gruber) and Nadine Hale (Michelle Barber) hits the career skids.

He is a real smoothie, oozing charm with a huge ego to boot. She is tired of his self-centered attitude and decides to go her own way.

Enter klutzy Hannah Brown (Ann Michels), who will replace Nadine. Hewes tries to fashion her after Nadine, but Hannah becomes determined to create her own style. In the meantime, Nadine's career is flying high with the Ziegfeld Follies and to make up the foursome, press agent Johnny Moore (Keith Rice) only has eyes for Hannah.

Gruber is a well-polished song and dance man. He glides over the stage with a persuasive air. Barber's Nadine is edgy and shows her mettle as the other half of the duo. She approaches her dialogue with the fervor of the late Eve Arden — a series of wisecracks that cause us to smile, but she and Gruber fail to click with their characters.

As the uncoordinated Hannah, Michels grows in her role and displays her wonderful singing voice. She has never sounded better, and you want to applaud her every note.

The presence of Angela Timberman as Essie, Nadine's tart maid, and Jay Albright as her suitor, Mr. Johnson, are real scene stealers. They give the show some needed humor.

Sandra Nei Schulte's costumes and Nayna Ramey's sets give the show a lavish look. They represent 1910 gorgeously.

As with any new production, "Irving Berlin's Easter Parade" will inevitably go through a number of nips and tucks during its run. Director Michael Brindisi, while crafting an enjoyably wonderful evening of entertainment, kept me hoping for what I would call a "Wow!" moment in the show's two-plus hour length. I sense that this is yet to come.

Still, "Irving Berlin's Easter Parade" has charm and is delightful to the eye and ear, sending you out into the night air with that touch of spring.

This is the opinion of Times theater critic Christopher Trussell. He holds degrees in music and fine arts from the Trinity College of Music in London. He has master's degrees in theology.