Broadway star Kelli O’Hara will be the musical guest of The Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square for its annual Christmas concerts, set for Dec. 12-14, 8 p.m. each night, at the Conference Center on Temple Square, in downtown Salt Lake City.
And Richard Thomas — best known for his 1970s stint as John-Boy Walton — will narrate the program, which mixes music and spoken-word performance.
The choir, Orchestra at Temple Square and the Bells on Temple Square are also part of the performances, an annual offering from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
“Kelli O’Hara is a tour de force performer whose beautiful and versatile voice will marry perfectly with the concert’s holiday repertoire,” said Ron Jarrett, Tabernacle Choir president. “I also can’t wait to hear Richard Thomas narrate our Christmas story with his signature voice that will take us all back home to Walton’s Mountain.”
O’Hara won a 2015 Tony Award for best actress in a musical for her performance as Anna in a revival of “The King and I.” She’s received six other Tony nominations, an Emmy nomination and two Grammy nominations. She’s starred in 11 Broadway productions, including “The Pajama Game,” “South Pacific,” “The Bridges of Madison County” and “Kiss Me, Kate.” In 2015, she made her Metropolitan Opera debut in “The Merry Widow” and later returned as Despina in “Cosí fan tutti.”
(Photo courtesy Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square) Richard Thomas will serve as the narrator at the Tabernacle Choir's annual Christmas concerts.
More than 40 years after he left the CBS series “The Waltons,” Thomas remains closely identified with his role of John Walton Jr. — aka John-Boy — for which he won an Emmy and two Golden Globes. He has since gone on to star in dozens of theatrical and television movies, and guest star in dozens of television series — including multiple episodes of made-in-Utah shows “Touched by an Angel” and “Promised Land.” In 2017, he was nominated for a Tony for his role in “The Little Foxes.”
The church previously announced that a randomized system for distributing concert tickets will be implemented this year. Those wishing to enter the computer-driven drawing should sign up for an account on My Temple Square Tickets (formerly My LDS Tickets), with a name, address, email address and phone number.
People with accounts can register for the random selection of two tickets — for one of the three dates, which the computer will also choose at random — can register starting Friday at noon MDT, through Sunday, Nov. 3, at midnight. For a full explanation of the rules, go to thetabernaclechoir.org.
