"Irving Berlin's White Christmas" comes straight from the old-school, "My dad's got a barn, let's put on show!" style of entertainment. The plot's a little corny, the result is not much in doubt, and the whole thing really is just an excuse for staging a great bunch of Irving Berlin songs.

There is, in fact, a barn in the new Broadway Series presentation of "White Christmas," but more to the point are the wonderful songs, sung by tremendous voices, backed by a solidly swinging big band.

Led by Michael Gruber and Christina Saffran Ashford, the affable cast is stocked with big-voice singing talent.

Gruber, as the all-business- no-social-life song-and-dance man Bob Wallace, has both the charisma and chops to essay the role Bing Crosby brought to the screen in the material's 1954 film debut.

Similarly, co-star Ashford, as modest-but-talented Betty Haynes, has a charming presence and an arresting, brassy voice, which naturally pushes her out front in the role first played by Rosemary Clooney.

The romantic pair are spiritedly backed by their more- comic musical partners Greg McCormick Allen as Phil Davis and Tari Kelly as Judy Haynes. (Beginning Friday, Taryn Darr replaced Kelly for the remainder of the run.) Allen and Kelly have a bright chemistry that works well on "The Best Things Happen While You're Dancing" and "I Love a Piano."

The film and subsequent stage musical are based around the title song, first written for the 1942 Bing Crosby-Fred Astaire vehicle "Holiday Inn."

"White Christmas" was such a success (it's the only song to top the charts three separate times) that it eventually spawned a movie of its own. Legend has it that Berlin told his secretary, "I just wrote the best song I've ever written -- hell, I just wrote the best song anybody's ever written!"

The 1954 film "White Christmas," starring Crosby, Danny Kaye and Clooney, was the biggest-grossing film of the year.

The stage version, adapted by David Ives and Paul Blake, streamlines the busy movie plot while holding on to the basic premise. The two fellows looking to add a female component to their successful song-and-dance act follow the women up to Vermont. The singing Haynes sisters have an engagement at an inn there, but a snowless holiday cancels all plans. The guys find out that the failing inn is run by their former Army commanding officer and contrive to save the resort. So they stage a new show -- in the barn.

Berlin classics not in the film but added for the musical include "Blue Skies," "How Deep Is the Ocean," "I Love a Piano" and "I've Got My Love To Keep Me Warm."

The play's pretty simple and straightforward, and when talents such as Gruber and Ashford are singing "Love and the Weather" and "Count Your Blessings," you don't need much else. The couple also have a sublime duet on "Love, You Didn't Do Right by Me" and "How Deep Is the Ocean."

Other notables in the cast include Stephen Godwin as Gen. Henry Waverly, Carol Swarbrick as Martha Watson and Olivia Spokoiny as young Susan Waverly (Keaton Whittaker alternates in the part).

Jamie Rocco choreographed the show and co-directed it with David Armstrong, and while it doesn't have a particular visual flair, the material naturally carries itself. The jazzy orchestrations are by Larry Blank, and James May nimbly conducted the solid band.

The numerous scene changes require complex curtain opening and closing sequences, which functioned somewhat haphazardly on opening night, though the cast energetically worked through the obvious distractions.