New West Theatre is ready to get Lethbridge into the Christmas spirit this week.
George Gallant, Erica Hunt, Mark Nivet and Kathy Zaborsky under the tutelage of music director Paul Walker have been working on an evening of Christmas Melodies and big band music.
“It’s windy out and it’s brown, but Christmas is just around the corner,” enthused Erica Hunt who is looking forward to the production’s Dec. 1-5 run at College Drive Community Church (2710 College Drive South).
The theme of the show this year is the beloved Christmas television variety specials on the ’60s. So there will be lots of singing and a few jokes interspersed in between the vocal numbers.
“If you want something to put you into the Christmas spirit, this will do it. And it helps us,” Hunt added.
“It just feels like Christmas when you hear these songs.”
This is more of a concert than a full scale production for New West Theatre, so there will be well known Christmas carols and a fewer light-hearted Christmas songs like ‘Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer.’
But in his constant quest to keep finding new Christmas material for the group’s annual Christmas show, music director Paul Walker has discovered his new favourite Christmas song — ‘All I Want For Christmas is You,” from Mariah Carey as featured in the movie ‘Love Actually.”
“I’m loving doing background vocals and blending the harmonies. We’re having a real blast,” said Mark Nivet.
Vocal director Kathy Zaborsky is enjoying the challenge of arranging complex vocal harmonies.
“We have a dream team of vocalists,” Zaborsky grinned.
“We really have to break down each element of the song and find out how each voice interacts with the others,” Zaborsky explained.
“Just hearing these songs puts people into the Christmas spirit,” Hunt said. The show begins at 7 p.m. each night.