These three kings

Holiday nostalgia and musical greatness converge in “Coming Back Like a Song,” a cozy play that transports us to a martini-clinking Christmas Eve in 1956, when three American icons—Irving Berlin (Timmy Spence), Harold Arlen (Wayne T. Dilts) and Jimmy Van Heusen (Hans Jeff Borger)—gather to catch up and play tunes at Berlin’s elegant Manhattan townhouse.

The dramatized reunion will have local theatergoers dreaming of a “White Christmas” all over again Dec. 1-18 at the Ocala Civic Theatre.

Intimate, candid and sprinkled with timeless tunes, “Coming Back Like a Song” delves into the largely unknown, often surprising lives of three of America’s most prolific songwriters. The play’s title, if you didn’t know, derives from a Berlin tune, “You Keep Coming Back Like a Song,” famously performed by Bing Crosby and, later, Dinah Shore.

The composer confab takes place at a crossroads between youth and aging, and changing musical sensibilities. Rock ‘n’ roll tunes are topping the charts, and Elvis has just become an overnight sensation. As we listen to the tunesmiths’ reminiscences, we come to understand that they feel displaced by the changing times of the impending 1960s and post-World War II era.

Despite their different beliefs, lifestyles and political bents, the well-heeled gentlemen bond with one another over Christmas cocktails, gathering around the piano to share songs and stories.

The OCT production crew does a splendid job of conveying the elegantly homey ambiance of Berlin’s townhouse, and director Carlos Francisco Asse effectively coaches Spence, Dilts and Borger to impart that warm feeling we get while gathering with old friends.

Hopes, dreams, and trepidation about the future of music go down the hatch with personal revelations. Between performing tunes such as “Somewhere Over the Rainbow,” “Swinging On a Star” and “What’ll I Do?”, the famed songwriters hash out grievances, lost loves and humbling admissions.

“For my research, I bought various memoirs and biographies of those three, and I read about their lives, and they were fabulously different characters,” playwright Lee Kalcheim told The Berkshire Eagle.

“Berlin was an icon, Jimmy Van Heusen was part of Sinatra’s Rat Pack and was tremendously successful as many of those great Sinatra albums of the ’50s and ’60s were full of his songs. Harold Arlen was a superbly talented songwriter but also lived a very difficult life, much of which is at the heart of this play.”

Berlin, the Russian-born elder of the trio, reveals that before his successful career spanning 45 years, he endured a poverty-stricken childhood and heartbreaking loss before happily marrying again. Known as “the writer of a thousand songs,” Berlin provides sage advice for his guests based on his life experience.

We learn that Arlen, the scribe who brought us “Over the Rainbow” and a slew of other standards, has been touched by tragedy. His beloved wife, Anya, has suffered from mental illness and resides in a sanatorium. Wracked by guilt and worries, he pines for her return for Christmas with torturous mixed feelings.

Van Heusen, a debonair, self-styled ladies’ man, can’t help but namedrop throughout the show, mentioning his brushes with close personal friend Frank Sinatra, whose golden pipes transformed the songwriter’s songs into classics. Also a pilot, he’s cocky inside and outside the cockpit, bragging about his high times, even when Berlin won’t let him light a jazz cigarette.

Between tunes and laughter, darker moments are revealed, and the friends help each other with compassion and humor. The show’s moments of endearing male bonding feel therapeutic amid today’s isolating times, especially if you’ve experienced loss and miss the “good ol’ days.”

Revisited musical gems also include “Stormy Weather,” “The Man That Got Away,” “Come Rain Or Come Shine,” “Alexander’s Ragtime Band,” “Blues In the Night,” “Count Your Blessings,” “Accentuate the Positive,” “Cheek to Cheek,” “Always,” “Lydia the Tattooed Lady,” and “Top Hat, White Tie, and Tails.”

Kalcheim said he wrote “Coming Back Like a Song” to present the rare opportunity to be a fly on the wall and witness three of the greatest songwriters of the last century, who also had a complicated relationship.

“At the end of the night,” he added, “the audience will know they’ve seen three really talented artists, but also very interesting and remarkable human beings.”

COMING BACK LIKE A SONG runs Dec. 1-18; 7:30 p.m. on Thursday and Friday, 2 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, and 2 p.m. on Sunday. Tickets are $30 for adults and $15 for ages 18 and younger. Purchase tickets over the phone at 352-236-2274 or visit ocalacivictheatre.com.

Note: The play is not recommended for children due to adult situations and language.