UPDATE: The Tabernacle Choir announced Friday, Dec. 9, that Sir David Suchet — best known for playing Agatha Christie’s detective Hercule Poirot on television for 25 years — will narrate the Christmas concerts.
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Lea Salonga — whose voice has earned a Tony award and graced Disney movies — will be the guest artist at this year’s Tabernacle Choir Christmas concerts, which will have a live public audience for the first time in three years.
The Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square announced the choice Friday, and noted that the annual concerts will take place Dec. 15, 16 and 17 at the Conference Center in downtown Salt Lake City.
It will be the first time since 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic, that a live audience, save for invited guests, will be allowed into the Conference Center to attend the show.
The Christmas shows are a showcase for the Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square, under the direction of Mack Wilberg, the choir’s music director, and Ryan Murphy, the associate music director.
A guest narrator will be named later, choir officials said in a news release.
Salonga won a Tony for her breakout role of Kim in the 1991 Broadway production of “Miss Saigon.” She joined the cast of “Les Misérables” on Broadway in 1993, playing the waif Éponine — the first Asian actress to play the role. In 2001, she returned to Broadway to play Mei-Li in a revival of “Flower Drum Song.” Her other Broadway appearances were in a 2007 version of “Les Misérables” (as the tragic Fantine), in George Takei’s “Allegiance” in 2015 and 2016, and from 2017 to 2019 in a revival of “Once on This Island.”
On film, Salonga provided the singing voice for Princess Jasmine in Disney’s 1992 movie “Aladdin” and the title character in Disney’s 1998 film “Mulan.” She has been given the honor of “Disney Legend.”
The Manila-born Salonga now has a recurring role on “Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin,” streaming on HBO Max.
(Karolina Wojtasik | HBO Max) Lea Salonga in "Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin." Salonga has been chosen as the featured guest artist for The Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra's annual Christmas concerts, Dec. 15-17, 2022, at the Conference Center in Salt Lake City.
Tickets are free for the concerts but are required. Tickets will be distributed randomly, limited to two per household. Those wishing to request tickets can register, from noon Friday to 11:59 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 30, Mountain time, online at tabchoir.org/Christmastickets. Admission is open to people 8 or older. The number of tickets distributed will be limited because of construction at Temple Square.
Salonga and the guest narrator also will appear on the Dec. 18 morning performance of “Music and the Spoken Word.” Tickets are not required for that event.
The 2021 concerts — called “O Holy Night,” with singer/actor Megan Hilty and actor Neal McDonough performing with the choir, orchestra, the Bells at Temple Square and the Gabriel Trumpet Ensemble — will air Tuesday, Dec. 13, on PBS stations, and Sunday, Dec. 18, on BYUtv.
