Alfie Boe, Tony-winning British tenor who never saw a live musical show until he starred in one, completely enraptured audiences once again in the 2012 Temple Square Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas Concert.  Beloved and renown for his showstopping rendition of “Bring Him Home”–the Les Mis prayer-song of Jean Valjean which Alfie added to the musical numbers performed at the Choir Concert–brought him and the Choir and orchestra, an unsurprising standing ovation. The Christmas extravaganza featured distinguished journalist, Tom Brokaw, NBC News Nitely Anchor and Today Show host.  Brokaw narrated the story of the Salt-Lake City born, World War II Air Force Pilot “Candy-Bomber”–Gail Halvorsen, who dropped candy from C-47s to children he came to meet behind a barbed wire fence one day on his mission in Germany.

As the music crescendo-ed, Tom continued to recount Gail’s story of giving against the backdrop of airplanes and min-parachutes dropping candy on video sweeping across a white-screen floating vertically from top to bottom of the Tabernacle Choir Stage.  Just as Tom completed the story of the candy-bomber, the screen lifted.  The Candy-Bomber himself stood in uniform on stage, wrapping the audience in love and cheers.  Meanwhile, mini white real parachutes dropped from the ceiling of the Conference Center mirroring those dropping from those WWII planes. The audience was riveted and overcome with the Spirit of Christ–the spirit of giving, the spirit of Christmas–as children approached the Candy-Bomber, and he has came to share a few words with Tom and the audience about giving, about gratitude, about finding real joy in service.

Merry Christmas to each of you.

May you also enjoy various other Christmas songs performed by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra on Temple Square are available for download on Mormon.org (list courtesy of mormonwoman.org).