PREVIEW
A Christmas Delivery
St. Albert Singers Guild
Dec. 8 at 7 p.m. and Dec. 9 at 3 p.m.
Arden Theatre
5 St. Anne Street
Tickets: $20. Call Verla at 780-418-4184 or at the door one hour before showtime
Christmas is a season we celebrate with mistletoe, eggnog, turkey and cranberry sauce. It’s also a time to reflect on the mark we leave in our community.
In the St. Albert Singers Guild holiday-themed concert, A Christmas Delivery, conductor Criselda Mierau has penned a concert where every song is a gem guaranteed to make the holiday spirit soar.
Every season Mierau composes theatrically based concerts flowing through a narrative. This year, she introduces how a simple mailman discovers Christmas while walking his route.
“It was written in August, long before the postal strike,” said manager Verla Carter, dampening any thought it was influenced by the posties who held rotating strikes.
“While delivering mail on Christmas Eve, the Mailman (tenor Hugh Hindle) finds out a little more about the people in his community at each stop.”
The concert starts as he wakes up and sips a coffee before heading out in the cold. He drops off a postcard at a lady’s house from her Aunt Milly in Hawaii as the choir sings Mele Kalikimaka, a bright Hawaiian Christmas greeting.
At his next stop, no one is home. So he proceeds to a church where the choir mistress patiently waits for a copy of The Pentatonics’ Christmas Medley. It blends four carols and hymns: Hark the Herald Angels Sing, God Rest Ye Gentlemen, Coventry Carol and Oh, Come All Ye Faithful.
“It’s going to be an audience favourite. It’s a lovely combination of songs people know and a clever arrangement,” Carter goes on to say.
At his fourth stop, he gives an envelope to Sally, a volunteer at a women’s shelter.
“He has a thing for Sally and when he gives her the envelope he tries to think of something clever to say and the only thing he can say is, ‘Nice looking envelope.’”
As he crosses to the women’s shelter, the choir sings Sarah McLachlan’s In the Arms of the Angel.
Finally he returns to the place where there was no one home and leaves a parcel on the doorstep. A reclusive old woman steps out and retrieves it.
As narrator Leo Bruseker chronicles the story, the implicit message is, “You can find Christmas and hope when you offer the smallest acts of kindness.”
Musicians offering support are Elizabeth Freiter (keyboard), Kevin Andrews (drums/flute), Wes Caswell (bass), Eric Freiter (violin), and Gunnar Lang and Katya Mierau on ukulele.
A Christmas Delivery takes place at Arden Theatre on Dec. 8 and 9.
