The Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square likely will be playing for its biggest audiences in years for its 2024 Christmas concerts — and a Tony-winning actress will be performing with the group.
The annual Christmas concerts will take place Dec. 19, 20 and 21 at the Conference Center in downtown Salt Lake City, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announced Friday. The center will be open to its full capacity of 21,000 seats for the first time since 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic and ongoing construction at Temple Square led to limited seating in recent years.
Singing with the choir will be Ruthie Ann Miles, a Broadway performer who won a Tony in 2015 for her supporting role as Lady Thiang in a revival of “The King and I” that starred Ken Watanabe and Kelli O’Hara. Miles also received a Tony nomination for her featured role of the Beggar Woman in a 2023 revival of “Sweeney Todd.”
Miles is now appearing through Nov. 24 in Ayad Akhtar’s play “McNeal,” starring Robert Downey Jr., at New York’s Lincoln Center Theater.
[Listen to this week’s “Mormon Land” podcast with choir President Mike Leavitt.]
On television, Miles appeared on all three seasons of the legal drama “All Rise,” had a recurring role on the spy series “The Americans,” and provided the voice of Mother in the 2020 Netflix animated musical “Over the Moon.”
Mack Wilberg, the choir’s music director, said in a news release that “Miles is acclaimed for her vocal talents paired with unforgettable performances.”
The choir will announce the narrator for this year’s Christmas concerts later, the release said.
Tickets to the Christmas concerts are complimentary but required. The choir distributes tickets through a random selection process, limited to four tickets per household. To request tickets, sign up at the choir’s website — thetabernaclechoir.org/christmas-concert-2024 — during the registration period, which starts Tuesday at noon Mountain time and runs through Friday, Nov. 1, at 11:59 p.m. Admission is open to anyone age 8 or older.
For those who miss out on the ticket draw, a standby line will form in the Tabernacle on Temple Square at 6:30 p.m. each performance night, ahead of the start time of 8 p.m.
(The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) Broadway actor Michael Maliakel sings with The Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square for its annual Christmas concert, at the Conference Center in Salt Lake City, Wednesday, Dec. 13, 2023.
Miles also is scheduled to perform with the choir for that weekend’s “Music and the Spoken Word” broadcast, starting Dec. 22 at 9:30 a.m. Tickets are not required; it’s first-come, first-admitted.
Last year’s Christmas concert — featuring Broadway singer Michael Maliakel and “Downton Abbey” star Lesley Nicol — will air on PBS on Dec. 17 and 24, and run on BYUtv from Dec. 21 to 25. The choir also plans to release CD and DVD versions of last year’s concert.
