Singing Tree chimes with a Broadway feel

As holiday extravaganzas go, Edmonton’s 42nd Singing Christmas Tree is chock full of scintillating stars.

Showcased at the Jubilee Auditorium Dec.16 to 18, this Broadway-style benefit concert pulls together 120 local singers standing on a 35-foot tall tree, a 30-piece orchestra and 30 dancers ushering in a dynamite Santa kick-line.

“The Dancing Santas were such a huge hit last year, we needed to keep that element in the show,” says music director and St. Albert resident Trent Worthington.

The concert’s big draw is American Idol winner Ruben Studdard, a Grammy award nominee who has made his mark singing R&B, pop and gospel.

John Cameron, who runs Keller Construction by day, sings, produces and funds this spectacle. Through his personal and professional affiliation with producer David Foster he was able to attract Studdard.

“Ruben is so laid-back, an absolutely amazing talent,” says Cameron adding that Studdard will sing five of the production’s 19 songs.

One of those tunes is Don’t Save It All For Christmas Day, a number that entreats people to display kindness and generosity across more than one day of the year.

But Cameron predicts the show’s most gripping moment arrives when Studdard sings ChristmasTime in a duet with Kristen Fersovitch.

A singer on the original Central Pentecostal Tabernacle’s Singing Christmas Tree, Fersovitch, 28, is a mother of three children all under the age of four. But she is fighting cancer and is having a tough time dealing with some of the Christmas stresses.

“But she’s pumped. She is very positive. She is going to change people’s lives.”

CTV news reporter Carrie Doll will anchor the production as emcee introducing a short playlet with a traditional Nicholas juxtaposed against a contemporary Santa.

St. Albert is fortunate to have a few ambassadors in the show – Sarah Knutson, Donovan Weidmann and Michelle Buchynski.

Buchynski, a St. Albert nurse, who studied classical and sings a wide range of songs from gospel to pop, sings The Prayer in a duet with Bernard Quilala. Composed by David Foster, this Top 40 was popularized by Celine Dion and Andrea Boccelli.

“There’s something very special about Michelle. She’s genuine and the audience sees it and realizes she’s there to share a part of herself,” Worthington says.

As music director, he has programmed a couple of Polar Express songs, The Carol of the Bells and the signature Silent Night. Opening the festivities is the upbeat Christmas Is the Best Time of Year.

Last year the Singing Christmas Tree raised $85,000. This year the show team hopes to double the amount and will once again direct donations to Santas Anonymous.

As Worthington puts it, “This show has all the glitz and lights of Broadway. But it’s designed to go beyond and remind us what Christmas is all about.”