Holiday Shows Beckon Throughout The Area
MLive.com
by Christina Fuoco Karasinski
December 1, 2011
Donny and Marie headline multiple days at the Fox Theatre in Detroit, and music fans can see the likes of Mannheim Steamroller, Trans-Siberian Orchestra and more.
Donny and Marie Osmond chose two cities in which to perform their holiday show this year -- and Detroit is one of them. Donny Osmond told The Flint Journal that the Motor City was a logical choice after the success he found with his ‘90s-era performances in “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.”
“It was such a great market for me and for ‘Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat,’ ” said Osmond, via telephone from Las Vegas where he was rehearsing. “When Marie and I decided to do a Christmas show and not do Broadway this year, we thought the perfect markets would be the return of the ‘Joseph’ markets, which is Detroit and Chicago. The audiences in Detroit are fantastic, as I told Marie in my ‘Joseph’ days. ‘We gotta go back and see the Motor City.’”
The Osmonds’ show is a brand new performance that the duo has created over the last several months. The siblings will bring to Detroit their orchestra, all of their dancers and production staff. The show will include the song “If Every Day Could Be Christmas,” a tune written by Frank J. Myers and Gary Baker, who penned “I Swear.”
“He sent this to me a couple months ago,” Osmond said. “I said, ‘I’ve got to put this in the show. It’s such a great song.’ It sounds like a classic I’ve heard before somewhere. But it’s a brand-new song.”
Osmond is giving away the track to anyone who emails free@donny.com. That way, he said, audience members will be familiar with the song when he sings it. Fans know the rest of the material, which will include Marie’s “Paper Roses” and Donny’s “Puppy Love,” along with holiday classics.
“Then there’s going to be an improv section of the show,” he said. “I don’t know how this is going to work but it’s going to be fun. I’m going to go out and whatever the audiences wants to hear, I’ll sing.”
Osmond admitted that a Donny and Marie Christmas show could be a little risky. But he’s willing to take that chance for fans in Detroit.
“A Donny and Marie Christmas show could be really overly sugary sweet where we have to pass out insulin shots to everybody at the end of the show,” he said.
“However, we’re going to start this show differently. We’re taking the chance. You gotta take risks. We’re opening this show with a film of what’s wrong in the world -- the economic problems we’re having, the weather patterns that are going on, the unemployment. Everything that’s depressing. Then all this anarchy is on stage, is on the video presentation that we’re doing and the orchestra. It’s horrific.
“Then Marie and I come out and we stop. We acknowledge the fact we live in the world. We can’t turn a blind eye to it, but for two hours, we’re going to get away from it and spread a little holiday cheer.”
Donny and Marie -- Christmas in Detroit” continues at the Fox Theatre, 2211 Woodward Ave., Detroit, through Dec. 4. Tickets are $30-$100.
Call 800-745-3000 or visit ticketmaster.com for more information.
Other holiday shows:
• Celtic Thunder -- Christmas,” 7:30 p.m. Dec. 7, Fox Theatre, 2211 Woodward Ave., Detroit. $37.50-$65.
• En Vogue Hits and The Holidays, 8 p.m. Dec. 8, Sound Board, 2901 Grand River Ave., Detroit. $35 and $38.
• Banana 101.5 Binge Before Christmas with Evans Blue, Shamans Harvest, Janus and Mic Lordz and Sauce Funky, 7 p.m. Dec. 9, The Machine Shop, 3539 S. Dort Highway, Flint. $15 for the 18 and older show. Visit etix.com.
• The Christmas Music of Mannheim Steamroller by Chip Davis, 8 p.m. Dec. 10, Fox Theatre, Detroit. $30-$85.
• Trans-Siberian Orchestra, 3 p.m. and 8 p.m., Dec. 17, The Palace of Auburn Hills, 6 Championship Dr., Auburn Hills. $32-$62.
• Holiday Pops, featuring Enrique Diemecke, conductor and the Flint Symphony Orchestra, 7 p.m. Dec. 17, and 3 p.m. Dec. 18, The Whiting, 1241 E. Kearsley St., Flint. 810-237-3122 or thefim.org.
• Karen Newman “Christmas Eve on Woodward Avenue,” 7:30 p.m. Dec. 21, Fox Theatre, Detroit. $23.50 and $48.50.
• Pop Evil Acoustic Christmas Concert, 7 p.m. Dec. 22, The Machine Shop, Flint. $13 in advance; 18 and older. Visit etix.com.
• Rock Star Annual Christmas Bash, 7 p.m. Dec. 23, The Machine Shop, Flint. $5 for those 21 and older; $8 for those 18-20. Visit etix.com.
Tickets for the above shows can be purchased by calling Ticketmaster at 800-745-3000 or visiting ticketmaster.com unless otherwise noted.
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