Christmas With The Tabernacle Choir

Merry Christmas now - This truly epic Christmas has (chuckling) set an unattainably high bar for Christmases to come.

It's been a dream.

(festive music) My mom put me in church choir when I was eight, (Michael chuckling) and choral music became like my whole world, and you can't talk about that world without the Tabernacle Choir.

It is such a thrill to be here.

I am here first and foremost as a big, big fan of this choir right here, one of the greatest in the world.

(audience cheering and applauding) Thank you, oh, no, please.

The choir was a big part of just like knowing what kind of opportunities were out there.

The caliber of musicianship, the scale, all of it just definitely lit something in me, and I think it's surely a part of why I'm doing what I am.

Joy to the world The Lord is come - This is very different from being in a long running show like "Aladdin".

We have a big Broadway show, but it doesn't come close to the amount of moving pieces involved with a production of this scale.

Prepare Him room - There's a very finite amount of time to get it right.

(audience cheering and applauding) That gives you a little bit of pressure to kind of like deliver, but also to see all of that come together has been so inspiring.

(audience applauding) - [Mack] Welcome.

- I'm so excited to be here.

- Oh, great, well, we're even more excited that you're here.

- It is a dream, this space is breathtaking.

(Mack chuckling) I worked for a long time in the professional choral scene in New York City.

And Mack, his reputation is all over that industry.

Angels from the realms of glory I've sung so many of his arrangements before.

You never really know what you're gonna get when you meet a towering musician like that.

And I found from the moment we met in New York, just so collaborative.

I had a hand in picking all of the music that I get to sing, and he's crafted completely new arrangements just for my voice and the keys that I like to sing in.

And that is the dream as a singer.

I mean, there's nothing greater than what you guys do, and it is extraordinary to be a part of it.

I'm pinching myself, and I cannot believe that I get to stand here and make music with you.

It's also been amazing to watch him work, to be in front of the choir, to respect them as humans and as musicians, but then to hold them to a really high standard.

The first time I got to watch the procession happen and realize that this fully volunteer choir has memorized all of this music, which memorizing choral music is a pain.

You're learning harmonies.

You have to know your other voice parts, entrances and exits.

Sometimes you're just sing on oohs and ahs.

It's really hard to memorize music like that.

And add on top of that, props, and walking up these stairs, and these ramps, and the fact that they have this whole program memorized is so impressive.

(choir singing in German) - Beethoven's "Ninth Symphony" is this iconic treasure in the choral world.

With these forces, it was like other-worldly.

(choir singing in German) - Just a wall of sound, and when they are firing on all cylinders, you just feel it vibrating through the building.

(choir singing in German) I asked for nothing I think I was nervous about feeling dwarfed, but being up there singing with them, it feels supportive.

That's the real mark of an expert choir that they can go back and forth between being the main operating character in the piece, and then taking the supportive role and accompanying.

The poor and downtrodden I think that speaks a lot to the arrangements that Mack and Ryan have done for this concert.

We are all in this together.

Children of God I'm six-foot-four.

I have never felt so small than I did walking into this space.

It is really, really humbling, but also such a gift to be able to share this message, and this music to so many people.

Children of God It's a message of welcoming.

- [All] Merry Christmas (cheering)!

- I hope it'll inspire people to think about those people that have less than they have, to reach out and be of service, to be generous, and I hope that our music does that.

Children of God