Show Choir Shares the True Power of Happy Holiday Spirit

BRISTOL, Tenn. – Christmas calls for joy and celebration.
Bristol Virginia Seniors Show Choir intends to offer and prompt a sleigh full of each via music of the season.
When they take to the stage of the Paramount Center for the Arts in Bristol, Tenn. on Dec. 16 to offer their Christmas show, “Making Christmas Memories,” the 70-or-so active members of the choir aim to spread the joy.
“It’s a lively show,” said Danny Hill, who directs the choir in his capacity as recreation superintendent for Bristol Virginia Parks and Recreation.
Take Tuesday at the Slater Community Center. Minutes before showtime, narrator Hugh Kilgore surveyed the gradually filling auditorium, thought for a second and smiled.
“I just forget everything when I do these. All the worries are put aside,” Kilgore, 80, said in his canyon-deep voice. “Entertaining the people that we perform for, making them happy, is gratifying.”
In seats and singers on stage at the ready, the show’s theme “Making Christmas Memories” led into a litany of Christmas classics. Expect to hear such light-hearted perennials as “Winter Wonderland” and “Frosty the Snowman,” along with Roger Miller’s endearingly sweet “Old Toy Trains.”
However, the show is not merely a music show. While various members of the choir sing, other choir members act out each song.
“I’m in a little skit where I play grandpa, but I don’t have to act. I am a grandpa,” Roy Webb, 87, said with a hearty laugh. “I feel like we’re entertaining them. I just enjoy it.”
Ditto Ivy Daniels. Attired in a brilliant red vest, she sings Irving Berlin’s enduring masterpiece, “White Christmas.”
“What do I get from being in the choir?” Daniels asked. “It’s like going to church. It’s everything.”
Precisely, said Dale Dietz. The 66-year-old bank trust officer said he just loves singing. Better yet, he enjoys that which singing gives to those who hear the choir perform.
“You see the reactions from the audience,” Dietz said, “and it’s pure heart-warming to see the joy that people are getting.”
Those who attend the choir’s show at the Paramount will get this – along with celebratory sing-a-longs like “Jingle Bells,” cheer spread like grandma’s warm quilt with “There’s No Place Like Home For the Holidays” and an exuberant “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree.”
Look for appearances by Santa Claus, the Chipmunks, “Sesame Street” characters Elmo and Big Bird, and a flat-out hilarious tooth fairy.
“I really feel like we’re entertaining them,” Webb said.
Then, as the show approaches its conclusion, Christ’s birth unfolds. A grand finale ensues. Three wise men and shepherds, two angels, Mary, Joseph and the baby Jesus fill the stage amid a medley of moving songs.
“The First Noel” led to “O Little Town of Bethlehem” to “Silent Night” and so on.
Grand indeed.
“We hope we’ll give you a Christmas memory to last the whole season long,” Hill said.

IF YOU GO
What: Bristol Virginia Seniors Show Choir Christmas Show
When: Dec. 16, 7 p.m.
Where: Paramount Center for the Arts, 518 State St., Bristol, Tenn.
Admission: Free, though donations are accepted.
Info: (423) 274-8920 and (276) 645-7275
Web: http://www.theparamountcenter.com

TOM NETHERLAND is a freelance writer. He can be reached at .