As flurries fell across Warwick Tuesday evening, members of Pilgrim High School’s Drama Club made final preparations for their upcoming production of “Irving Berlin's White Christmas: The Musical.”

Adapted from the classic holiday film, the school’s rendition of “White Christmas” follows a story of two World War II Army veterans, Bob Wallace and Phil Davis, who form a successful song-and-dance act. Looking for romance, the two follow a pair of singing sisters, Betty and Judy Haynes, en route to a Christmas show at a Vermont lodge.

Featuring 17 Irving Berlin songs, the club will perform well known standards such as “Blue Skies,” “I Love A Piano,” “How Deep Is the Ocean” and, of course, “White Christmas.”

“It’s a great show. It’s very upbeat and lively,” said director and Pilgrim English teacher Richard Denningham. “This particular show is intensive and one of the more demanding shows we’ve done here.”

Almost all of the 45 members of the club had or will have some part in the production. From set designs to sound, lighting and costumes, all aspects of the performance have been the responsibility of club members.

“They do the whole shebang,” said Denningham. “On performance nights, the kids run this production from start to finish, and I’m only here if something breaks.”

Auditions began in September, where interested students had to prepare a two-minute monologue and a musical theater song. The club typically met Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays in the auditorium after school since that time to rehearse. Recently, they added a fourth day of practice for final preparations of their routines.

“They’ve put a lot of hours into this. It’s probably been like a part-time job for them, on top of the school day,” said Denningham. “We’re going, on a good week, probably 12 to 15 hours, and in the past few weeks we’ve been going closer to 24 to 25.”

“It’s been lots of hard work,” said Kyle Bounfiglio, who plays Phil Davis.

“This has been tiring, but it’s very exciting,” added Gabrielle Young, who’ll perform as Betty Haynes.

“The dancing has been the hardest part of this,” said Ethan Miller, who plays Bob Wallace.

“But, I can’t imagine doing anything else,” added fourth lead Nicole Morales, who’ll be performing as Judy.

In addition to all of the student’s time and energy put into the play, a significant financial investment on the club’s behalf was also made.

“These shows are pretty pricey, with six or seven thousand dollars used when all is said and done,” said Denninham. “We do our best with ticket sales, and that’s how we try to make that money back. We average somewhere between 200 to 250 people for a good house.”

Most of the funds come from fundraisers and donations, including a $1,000 donation from the Robert J. Shapiro Fund. The payoff on that investment, however, is apparent in the student’s performance and conduct thus far.

“Kids who have never put on tap shoes have mastered entire tap routines,” added Denningham. “It’s impressive, just to see how far they’ve come in the last two and a half months. I’m very proud of their tremendous amount of hard work.”

Pilgrim’s performance of “Irving Berlin's White Christmas: The Musical” will be held at the school’s auditorium on December 5 and 6 at 7 p.m. and December 7 at 2 p.m. Tickets, available at the door, are $8 for adults and $5 for students, seniors and children under 10. For additional information and a video trailer of the production, visit the Drama Club’s Facebook page at www.facebook.com/phsacts.