Christmas Season is officially here!
By Don Valentine
This past Wednesday night the Bro-ward Performance Art Center officially welcomed in the season with a dazzling concert by some of the great Soul icons. The “Colors of Christmas” celebrates its 25th Anniversary season with Peabo Bryson, a new line-up of stars for a sparkling evening of holiday music and classics. This was all backed up by a hot 12-piece band with a spectacular choir.
The show opened with Ruben Studdard performing “Have yourself a Merry Little Christmas”. This turned into an ensemble rendition to introduce each of the music icons. What an array of artist it was, including Jody Watley, Marilyn Mcoo and her husband Billy Davis Jr. That opening concluded with a raucous crowd applause greeting of the head liner, Peabo Bryson.
As seasoned a veteran as Peabo is, he did not disappoint the audience. He came off stage shaking hands with each audience member with-in reach going back nine rows. Then “Mr. Chris
ma” slow danced to the Christmas tune with one of the ladies in the audience. We can be sure that made her night!
Each of the stars got to feature one of their legendary hits while mixing in classic Christmas songs from “Silent Night” to my personal favorite “The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year”. The New York Times summarized the show exactly by saying “ Hearts made light, and a swinging ‘O Holy Night’ with a show-business style that made it seem like a television special.” Every fan got their money’s worth of this nearly 3 hour Christmas extravaganza!
