Those MGM Musicals Really Are Glorious

The Symphonic Pops Consortium created concert Those Glorious MGM Musicals will always hold a very special place in my heart.  Ten seasons ago it was performed in Ottawa by the National Arts Centre Orchestra, conducted by guest maestro Jack Everly.  Having an affinity for musicals, and being a student always looking for a cheap night out, I convinced three of my friends it would be fun and we headed downtown.  For the first time I was attending a symphony concert and while the write up sounded entertaining I wasn't sure what to expect. 

Needless to say my worries were completely unfounded and I loved it.  It was the start of my affection for Pops concerts, the sound of a symphony orchestra, the live music experience, and the knowledge imparted in such a charismatic way by the Maestro who, several years later, would accept the post of Principal Pops Conductor.  I left that evening with the goal of seeing all the musicals that had been featured in the show.  It took about five years before I had the time to start tracking them down, and I almost accomplished the goal.  The early operettas I haven't found in their entirety, although youtube has helped with relevant clips.  The movie search took me places I hadn't expected, mostly into the world of autobiographies and behind the scenes books.  Several books covered one of my favourite musicals, Singin' in the Rain, and the performers in it, but my interest has branched out into a greater appreciation for all classical and symphonic music.  Really what better result from a first concert experience could there be?

Anyhow, when I found out that I was going to be in the area when the Naples Philharmonic Orchestra was performing the same show, I couldn't resist.  Not exactly a bookend to how I got hooked on this genre, but a wonderful reminder of everything that I love about it. 

Nick Fitzer
(www.irtlive.com)

The concert itself was great, there were things I didn't remember from the version I'd previously seen and variations from the printed program.  Perhaps Nick Fitzer wasn't feeling well since his solo pieces were unfortunately replaced or cut.

Nick Adams is an incredible talent.  His dancing in "Steppin' Out With My Baby" was high energy and his voice just as strong after a series of

Nick Adams
(www.nickadams.biz)

steps as when he first walked out.  A highlight of the whole show was his "Singin' in the Rain" number to close the evening.  The dance choreography mirrored that of Gene Kelly (minus the shrinking suit coat sleeves.  Aside: the suit he wore in the film was wool and the water caused it to shrink so noticably that you can see the sleeve length change) and Nick did a great job.  It would have been the icing on the cake to include a police man at the end coming up and tapping him on the shoulder adding yet another element of the movie.

Scott Hogsed
(calendar.gsu.edu)

Other highlights were "The Atchinson, Topika, and the Santa Fe" from The Harvey Girls which started with Scott Hogsed and Nick Fitzer, then continued with Kathy Voytko in the Judy Garland role.  The vocal arrangement was done by Kay Thompson and won an Oscar for Best Original Song.  I believe Thompson was also the basis for the character of Phoebe Dinsmore, Lena Lamont's vocal coach, in Singin' in the Rain.  Dan'yelle Williamson's version of "Get Happy" dressed in the suit jacket style made famous by Judy Garland, and "Stormy Weather", a Lena Horne signature piece, were also very enjoyable.

Dan'yelle Williamson
(www.abouttheartists.com)

Kathy Voytko
(www.playbillvault.com)

The ladies teamed up for a lovely and very special arrangement of "Can't Help Lovin' That Man" from Showboat.  The history of the musical by Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II is really quite interesting.  After starting on Broadway, the first movie version was a silent film made in 1929 (technically based off the novel not the musical, so I suppose that partially justifies a silent film, although the musical had opened 2 years earlier).  Some of the original broadway cast ended up in the movie when several talking sequences were added.  More cast from the stage appeared in the second version from 1936, then in 1951 MGM got their hands on it for the lavish treatment with which they produced musicals.  Lena Horne wanted the role of Julie (and I think would have been a perfect fit), but it went to her friend Ava Gardner instead.  Obviously a disappointment, but the two ladies still remained friends.  The duet arrangement let the audience imagine what it might have been like had casting turned out differently.

Many more musicals were featured from The Wizard of Oz and Meet Me in St. Louis (two more Judy Garland classics) to The Band Wagon.  Speaking of Oz in his introduction to the piece conductor Everly read from a newspaper synopsis that described what we think of as a children's movie as "girl transported to psychedelic world, kills first woman seen, then teams up with three others to kill again".  When you put it like that, maybe not for children after all.  It likely would have had quite a different feel had studio head Louis B. Mayer gotten his choice of cast with Shirley Temple as Dorothy.

After the encore of "That's Entertainment" I got to thinking about all the people I've inflicted my love

of this stuff on since that first evening.  There have been a lot and I now have a few standing agreements about which concerts friends want to go to.  I'm glad that my excitment has rubbed off and I hope I've helped in some small way to keep the performance of this music alive.

In 1969 a portion of MGM was sold with props, costumes, and the backlot divvied up and also sold off.   The music library however was tragically sent to a landfill.  Many thanks to Jack Everly and the others who worked for two years to recreate the symphonic scores that were so carelessly tossed out, so that a concert of this music could exist.  I don't like to imagine what I'd have missed out on if I hadn't shown up to Southem Hall 10 years ago.

Love Will Keep Us Together

The Toronto Symphony's new Pops Conductor, Steven Reineke, introduced something new this season, a love themed concert, titled Love Will Keep Us Together that occurred a week after Valentine's Day.  I'm not sure how I feel about Valentine's concerts, there's no lack of good "love" music, but being single it can feel like a slap in the face from the world sometimes.  But I went with a friend and we just enjoyed the evening.  It will be interesting to see if this trend continues since the house was not full on the Wednesday evening I attended.

The opening piece "Love's Theme" by Barry White could have been a bit stronger, there was some muddling in the horns and it just didn't have the hook that gets you on the edge of your seat for the remainder of the evening.

Principal trumpet Andrew McCandless nailed a few wonderful solos throughout the evening.  The first was glorious and soaring in the "Cinema Paradiso Suite", then in "Almost Paradise" from Footloose he showed versatility with a much more jazzy sound.

Reineke, Eldred, Wolfe, and the TSO
(www.theatromania.ca)

Guest vocalists were Mike Eldred and Betsy Wolfe (making her TSO debut).  Mr. Eldred was okay, I enjoyed him best in "Sarah".  It's a piece from the musical The Civil War, and he just let the story and lyricism unfolded naturally.

Wolfe in one of many lovely evening gowns
(www.tumblr.com)

Ms. Wolfe has a lovely voice that was well suited to the heartfelt and belt portions of "The Music That Makes Me Dance" from Funny Girl.  I don't recall hearing the piece before, but then can't say I know much from Funny Girl, but I quite liked it.

They joined forces for a humerous version of "Anything You Can Do" from Annie Get Your Gun.  When they got to "anything you can buy, I can buy cheaper" and started throwing out numbers of "50 cents", "40 cents", "30 cents" etc.  Betsy side barred to the audience "the song's a bit outdated".  A true fact but it hasn't lost any of Irving Berlin's magic, even if the value of money has changed.

There were a few orchestra only pieces as well.  "Unchained Melody" made the list, and while melodically there isn't a lot of variation, they threw it around between the violins, winds, and celli which helped keep it interesting.  "Copacabana" was a good choice to open the second half with some energy.

The evening concluded with a lively encore of "Love Will Keep Us Together", complete with dancing vocalists and conductor while the orchestra played along left mostly to their own devices.  The audience didn't jump to their feet to join in, but there was a healthy applauce and light steps as people left the hall.

Beethoven Symphony 9

Conductor Matthew Halls
(www.bach-cantatas.com)

I'm unsure where I heard it, but regarding conductors it was said that "the score needs to be in their head, not their head in the score".  Never was that more clearly demonstrated then at the Toronto Symphony concert Wed. Feb. 13 Beethoven Symphony 9.  Guest conductor Matthew Halls, conducted the entire evening from memory.  What a memory to contain not only Beethoven's longest symphony but his "Coriolan Overture" and "Serenade in E Minor for String Orchestra" by Elgar as well.

I really enjoyed the "Coriolan Overture".  It opened with a decisive series of chords and ended, in a way I don't expect from Beethoven, by literally fading away.  The orchestra did a fantastic disappearing act at the end, bringing the sound level ever so gradually to nothing.

Elgar's "Serenade" was just beautiful with lovely playing from the string section.

The meat of the evening and the reason everyone was there had to be Beethoven's Ninth Symphony!  It was my first time hearing it live and just the way the stage was set up indicated something was going to be different.  Rather than relegating the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir to the seats in the choir loft, the orchestra was pushed to the front of the stage and the choir seated on risers behind them.

http://www.musicaltoronto.org/

(Photo by John Terauds)

Obviously the part everyone knows is the "Ode to Joy" from the fourth movement, but I discovered there's so much more to the piece than that.  For example in the second movement there was a great melody that would start to develop and each time it reached a peak it would drop away into something else.  Not sure where he was going with that because I was anxious to hear it continue and to my ears it never did.  Even in the fourth movement the "Ode to Joy" theme is of course there, but it's expanded on and left then returned to.  All things I wasn't expecting.  It was truly an uplifting evening, and I hope to catch Beethoven 9 again sometime.  To top it all off, it was Mr. Halls first time conducting the Ninth Symphony.  No one ever would have guessed and I wonder how his approach may change as he conducts it in the future after such a successful first experience.  For a more detailed review check out the Toronto Star article.

TSO Allows the Audience to Pick

For many months the Toronto Symphony posted polls listing pieces of music and inviting potential  audience members to pick their favourites.  After several rounds and finals the six top pieces were combined into an Audience Choice concert.  Not a lot of the music I voted for made the final list, but I was getting excited just listening to the orchestra warm up and hearing snippets from Star Wars!

The "Main Title Theme from Star Wars" opened the evening with a soaring brass section that let loose to great effect.  There's nothing quite like John Williams.  I was left wondering if it's the first time anyone in attendance had heard that piece live given that there isn't always a lot of crossover between people who favour classical concerts and ones who prefer the Pops series.  Maybe programs like this will help in the promotion of each.

Next up was the "long, short, short, long" movement from Beethoven's Symphony No. 7 (ok, technically movement 2).  The theme was introduced so beautifully by the strings and then got even quieter.   Wow, just lovely.

Ms. Rizikov
(ttp://glenngouldvariations.tumblr.com)

Rachmaninoff's "Rhapsody on a Theme by Paganini" is probably my favourite piano piece, and I'll admit to being cliche and name Variation 18 as my favourite within it.  That variation proved to be another winner and made the program.  We also helped to fulfill a dream of sorts for the young pianist.  Thirteen year old Anastasia Rizikov had told the conductor who announced to the audience that it was her dream to perform with the TSO.  She took to the stage looking every bit a polished young lady.  Raising off the piano bench at times to get the sound from the piano to counter the orchestra, she got the job done, and musically at that.  I expect this won't be her last time on the Roy Thomson Hall stage.

Next was Movement 4 from Dvorak's "Symphony No. 9: From the New World".  It was a good book end to the first half with the Jaws sounding opening and brass fanfare that could slip right into a John Williams movie score.

Resident Conductor
Shalom Bard (tso.ca)

The audience voting continued even during the concert as after intermission we were tasked with making a selection between "The Great Gate of Kiev" from Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition, or "Intermezzo" from the opera Cavalleria Rusticana by Mascangni.  The method of voting by was shouting the favourite phrase of the conductor for the evening, the TSO's new resident conductor, Shalom Bard.  No idea what it means but to me it sounded like "oy mon choi".  The brassy sounds of Kiev won.

Then a drastic change of pace for "Adagio for Strings", which was poignant as always.  I had forgotten this was in the movie Lorenzo's Oil, and while listening my mind wandered back to when I saw that movie in high school.

The evening concluded with the full "1812 Overture"!  Another smashingly exciting piece.  Particularly the finale that accompanies fireworks shows, yet I like hearing the whole thing in a concert setting, even if the real cannon fire is replaced with recorded shots.

But wait!  That ended up not being the end of the evening.  Letting those who lost the vote still be winners, "Intermezzo" was played as an encore.  It was my vote and I'm glad they played it.  The theme is likely to be known by many but it's not a piece I've ever heard in it's entirety and really had no idea where the melody that's so popular was from.  It was a wonderful conclusion.

I think the audience choice idea went over well and perhaps there will be more in the future.

Mozart @ 257 Festival

The TSO Mozart @ 257 concert series concluded last week.  I attended the final event which featured three works by the prolific composer.  Music director Peter Oundjian provided some opening comments and mentioned that we'd see the orchestra growing as the evening progressed.  He wasn't kidding.  The opening "Serenade No. 12 in C Minor" had only eight musicians, two each of oboe, clarinet, french horn, and bassoon.  It was nice to hear the more chamber size group and be able to pick out the instruments clearly.  I particularly liked the driving force of the 2nd clarinet part and the equality in timing and tone.

Teng Li (www.lizpr.com)

The second piece, "Sinfonia concertante in E-flat Major for Violin, Viola and Orchestra" featured concert master Jonathan Crow and principal violist Teng Li.  Mozart apparently played the viola part when he performed it and why not?  He didn't relegate it to a supporting instrument but used it equally with the violin.  True it doesn't have the higher, easier to project tone, and when both violin and viola were playing, particulary with the now larger orchestral accompaniment, it was sometimes difficult to hear the viola part. However, when they alternated melodic lines, even switching seemlessly in the middle of the phrase, the viola shone through.  The ending had an alternating repetative part violin, viola, violin with embellishment, that was repeated again with the viola starting so it got the embellishment section.  That was a cool moment.

At intermission there was a lobby chat with William Littler and Teng Li.  He asked about the viola not getting the respect it deserves and shared a few viola jokes.  The first joke being if you see a crushed skunk and a crushed viola on the roadway what is the difference between the two?  Answer: There are skid marks in front of the skunk.  He ended the chat with one he'd been told by another viola player, why are viola jokes so short?  So violinists can understand them.  The listening audience and Ms. Li seemed to appreciate that :)

(www.flipkart.com)

The concert concluded with "Symphony 40 in G Minor".  I tend to associate minor keys with dissonance and lack of melody.  Honestly I never really knew this symphony was in a minor key because it is so melodic.  The opening movement is probably my favourite, likely because I'm familiar with it from who knows where.  As Maestro Oundjian also commented Mozart's music is everywhere, even in elevators. As symphonies go it didn't feel very long, but was very full with lots for the ear to latch on to.  It was evident in all the pieces that Mozart's music is open, there may be a lot going on but each section, each part is exposed and can be honed in on.  Nothing sounded off or out of place so I'd say the TSO did a great job in their celebration of Mozart's 257th birthday.  Looking forward to 258!

A Merry TSO Christmas

Tree in Metro Square
outside RTH

The TSO Christmas Concert this year featured guest conductor Jeff Tyzik and narrator Colin Mochrie.  The concert contained typical festive fare with some twists.

The first twist was the opening "A Christmas Overture" which was "Deck the Halls" played in the styles of Mozart, Gabrieli, Count Basie, and Stravinsky.  So cool!

The second was a gorgeous version of "Gesu Bambino" which Tyzik arranged and featured two soloists from the Toronto Symphony Youth Orchestra on violin and cello.  I particularly liked how he wove in melodies from "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desire" giving added interested to the somewhat repetative theme in the main piece.

John Rudolph (tso.ca)

The third was "Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer Rag" and featured percussionist John Rudolph on a xylophone that was decorated with Christmas lights.  The piece itself was fun with some impressive playing.

The fourth was a selection of Chanukah songs.  The only one I recognized was the ever popular Dreidel song but the others were really nice and there was a great clarinet solo played by YaoGuang Zhai.  The Festival of Lights has some great music and it was enjoyable to hear some extra variety this time of year.

The highlight of the evening though was the concluding "The Twelve Days of Christmas: A Pageant".  This piece was apparently part of the Youth Symphony concert last season and received such great acclaim that it was moved to the main series event this year.  Arranged by Richard Hayman for the St. Louis Symphony, where he worked for 45 years, the TSO is only the second orchestra to have the piece in their library.  Major coup, it's so much fun! (well from the audience perspective anyway, hopefully the orchestra likes it as well).  Narrated by Mr. Mochrie, who did a bang up job of having a dead pan reaction to the flirting calling birds, and interacting with the children who decorated him with eight sets of 5 golden rings.  

The large cast, including Holiday Dancers and the Etobicoke School of the Arts Chorus, embraced their parts enthusiastically, perhaps none moreso then the 10 lords who leapt down the aisle from the rear of the hall.  The orchestra played various segments that fit each day such as (based on my best guesses) The "Theme from Romeo and Juliet" by Tchaikovsky for Day 2's turtle doves, "Aloutte" and the "Can-Can" for Day 3's French hens, "The Wedding March" for the 5 golden rings, "Odette's Theme" from Swan Lake for the Day 7 swans, "Old MacDonald" and "Turkey in the Straw" for eight maids a milkin', "Trepek" from The Nutcracker for the Leaping Lords, and an "Artist's Life Waltz" by Strauss for the nine ladies dancing.  The conclusion with 11 pipers from the Highland Creek Pipes and Drums piping through the choir loft playing "Scotland the Brave" followed shortly there after by 12 drummers drumming the theme from "The Bridge Over the River Kwai" was fantastic.

It's a rather long piece that took up a substantial portion of the second half, so perhaps this need not become a yearly undertaking but maybe it's something the TSO could make tradition by reprising every few years.

Return to Yuletide Celebration

Finding myself with some days off at the beginning of December, I decided on a road trip to the best concert for getting in the Christmas spirit, Yuletide Celebration with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra!  Two years ago I made the trip for the 25th anniversary concert (that review here) and while I wasn't expecting the elaborateness of that milestone, the 27th version came pretty close.

Justin Stahl, Lobby
Organist

The lobby decorations were as gorgeous as ever, and the cookies just as delicious.  Entertaining concert goers and showing off the Wurlitzer Theatre Pipe Organ to great effect was Justin Stahl who played before and after the concerts.  When leaving I noticed his closed music book, it was the "Reader's Digest Merry Christmas Songbook" which I also have! (although anything I've played didn't sound nearly as good).

Angela and Ben

The show opened with a new arrangement of "O Come, All Ye Faithful" by music director and maestro, Jack Everly.  It had English lyrics, Latin lyrics, and even the "wonderful, councillor..." quote from The Messiah.  Featuring the whole cast, it also served as an introduction to the voices of the hosts, opera star Angela Brown and Broadway leading man Ben Crawford.  I've seen Ben in other Symphonic Pops Consortium concerts, and have always enjoyed his voice.   This concert was no exception.  Angela and Ben joked around introducing each other with Angela playing the opera diva and claiming herself as sole host because she's from Indianapolis, which garnered audience applause.  At the matinee I attended however, Ben's announcement at being from Tuscan, Arizona created a stronger audience reaction.  Maybe he stacked the crowd with friends and family.  Being an out of towner I cheered for him :)

Anthony Kniffen & Grinch

After a solo by Angela of "Sleigh Ride" (because really what concert is complete without the Leroy Anderson classic, which incidentally was written in Georgia when the temperature was 105 deg. F) the orchestra was showcased in a medley from The Grinch Who Stole Christmas.  I haven't watched the movie in years and wasn't recognizing anything.  Then all of a sudden I noticed the tuba player, Anthony Kniffen, disappear from his spot at the back of the stage balcony.  He reappeared centre stage wrapped in a sousaphone and wearing a Santa hat to play "You're a Mean One Mr. Grinch".  The Grinch himself (he was wondering around the lobby earlier), even poked his head out from the window above the stage drumming his fingers together in an evil fashion.

Ben and cast decked out in Christmas bling

The costumes and gowns were extravagant, and none more so than Angela's dress for "Sparklejollytwinklejingley" from Elf: The Musical.  It was all gold and so glittery under the lights it was hard to look at.  Ben, by contrast was wearing a classic black tux and was accused of needing some Christmas bling.  He obliged by removing the tux to reveal black sequined pants and a red sparkly jacket.  The singers and dancers all sported major sparkles and glitter during an energetic dance interlude.  I hadn't heard anything from Elf before, but quite liked this and the selection later of "There is a Santa Claus".  That piece has a lyric about Rudolph's nose really glowing and a red spot light swept around the hall to emphasis the point.  It was a simple but effective bit of lighting design.

Christmas Eve Radio Highlights

The highlight of the first act for me was being taken back to December 24, 1942 for the "Christmas Eve Radio Broadcast".  A WISO sign descended from the stage complete with "On Air" and "Applause" indictors.  After a jive style dance number to "Hark the Harold Angels Sing" (or at least part of it) by Anne Nicole Beck and Joseph Perkins Jr., Ben and several Yuletide ladies performed "Fum, Fum, Fum".  The "broadcast" then officially started complete with an ad for Hazel Bishop lipstick.  I looked it up and it was the brand of the first non-smear lipstick although it wasn't an incorporated company until 1950.  But who says you can't adjust history to suit the needs of a show? :)  The catchy Chiquita Banana jingle was part of the segment as well, complete with Ben in a grass skirt and coconut bra.  Three singers with great harmony did an Andrew's Sisters style song similar to "Boogie Woogie Buggle Boy" only about "Roly Poly Santa Claus".  Mike Runyan (ISO librarian) was featured with his "Cowboy Harmonica Christmas" that contains half a dozen harmonicas in various sizes and songs such as "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer", "Up On the Housetop", and "Holly, Jolly Christmas".  That was one of my favourite parts two years ago and it was really fun to see him again.  The segment concluded with Angela singing a touching rendition of "I'll Be Home for Christmas" with harmonica accompaniment.

The traditional tap dancing kick line of Santa's brought down the curtain for intermission.  The second half opened with "The Enchanted Toy Shoppe" a feature which I believe was new at last season's concert.  Angela began by telling the story of a toy maker and how one magical night his toys came to life.  She also sang the beginning of "Once Upon a December" from Anastasia (Liz Callaway was a host last year and the singing voice of Anastasia in the movie, which may have influenced the song choice, but it fit in well).  The fairy waved her wand to a slow version of the "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" theme bringing the toys to life.   Included in the toys were a music box dancer and doll, who danced, en pointe even, to something by Tchaikovsky from "Swan Lake" I think.  By magic a juggler (Cirque de la Symphonie artist Vova Tsarkov) stepped out of building blocks that were stacked together before our eyes.  I liked the following rag doll segment the best of the Cirque acts.

Check out that Statue of Liberty style tiara!
(Angela photo from her facebook page)

Alina Sergeeva as the doll 'danced' with the juggler as he picked her up and she flopped back over into incredible positions that showed off her amazing flexibility.  The way she carried momentum and flopped at the slightest touch was so realistic of how a doll would behave.  "Hedwig's Theme" was used as the music for extracting the aerial silks artist (Rachel Bowman) from the "empty" Toy Parts box.  Then Ben returned to sing "Somewhere in My Memory" for the silks act.  It's a lovely song and the move where the aerialist wrapped herself in the silk and then fell as it unravelled always make me catch my breath.  The variety of pieces that appear in arrangements by Jack Everly and company is second to none!

Presumably while they cleared the Toy Shoppe props away behind the curtain, Angela took the front of the stage and performed "My Simple Christmas Wish".  Apparently this is a popular cabaret act song, but I was unfamiliar with it.  Some lyrics were changed to be family friendly and a new line about not being Oprah so don't look under your seat (a joke about Oprah giving gifts away to audience members) shot by so fast it took a second to process, but once people got it, there were giggles.

Not to be outdone, the curtain opened on a now empty stage and Ben walked out to sing "Believe" from The Polar Express.  The most popular version is likely with Josh Groban, but I much preferred Ben's.  Groban's seems heavy to me, but Ben had hope and a bit more lightness, not to mention his wonderful voice.

Zach and Jack

An exciting instrumental version of "Good King Wenceslas" featuring ISO concertmaster Zach De Pue was introduced by Jack Everly.  He said the lyrics were added to the tune in 1853, and a new Christmas song was born, but we'd never heard it like this.  So true!  The arrangement, by Alex De Pue (Zach's brother), had more notes than it seemed possible to play and ones higher than I thought a violin could hit.  It was great to see a little Time For Three style jammin' going on!  Check out the same arrangement with Alex playing the fiddle accompanied by a hammered dulcimer (it's better with full orchestra but I was excited to find the arrangement in any form!).

Not that the audience needed any waking up after that, but the ensemble got their own lively number with "All I Want for Christmas is You".  The highlighted voices weren't all my taste, but the guys shoes sure stood out...red with white inserts sure fit the Christmas bling criteria.

Slowing things down Angela and Ben combined forces for "The Prayer" with Ben taking the Italian part of the duet and creating a beautiful deep sound.  Their voices and talents were highlighted the best here.

Full cast in "The First Noel"

Ben continued with the beginning of "The First Noel" singing it straight and with meaning, until the curtain rose on a stained glass style backdrop and the full cast joined for the concluding verses and chorus.  After an almost instant standing ovation (the powerful arrangement by David Clydesdale almost draws you out of your seat) we were seated again and treated to an acapella "Silent Night" by Angela before joining our voices with everyone else's for "We Wish You a Merry Christmas".  I love singing with a full orchestra!

Thank you to all the friendly people I met (and especially to one I still haven't), the performers and everyone behind the scenes who work together to create such a wonderful show.  My mission was accomplished, Christmas spirit attained and should anyone be in the need for some I highly recommend this method of acquisition!  Because it's really true that...

(All photos except where noted from the Indianapolis Symphony, some via The Examiner and The Star.)