Dennis Haysbert, Ruthie Ann Miles at Tabernacle Choir’s 2024 Christmas Concert – Deseret News

The way the guest artists at this year’s Tabernacle Choir Christmas concert interact with one another, you’d think they’ve been working together for a while.

A little more than twelve hours after her first of three Christmas appearances at the 21,000-seat conference center, Broadway star Ruthie Ann Miles put her arm around actor Dennis Haysbert, whose typically deep and commanding voice trembled with emotion as he told the life story of Dr. Charles Mulli during the concert – a narration that he said could easily make him “cry through every line.”

And as Miles shared what it meant to have her mother and her musical inspiration there as she performed Christmas music with a choir she listened to as a child, Haysbert smiled at her and gently patted her arm in support. The two seemed comfortable and weren’t afraid to express their feelings.

But it’s only been about a week since Haysbert was officially announced as the concert’s narrator. The two guest artists only spent a few days together in Salt Lake City before the opening concert on Thursday evening – in fact, Miles was shocked to learn that the choir and orchestra only practiced together for the first time on Tuesday.

The quick bond everyone formed was due in part to the communal and warm nature of the Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra at Temple Square, she said.

“The choir and the orchestra are both so disciplined and so precise and so determined… that it was easy – dare I say, easy?” Miles said during a news conference Friday morning at the conference center, joking that the hardest part was in high heels to walk across the stage. “Because everyone knew exactly what their piece of the puzzle was in the bigger picture and everyone was prepared with their A-game.”

“It felt like I had just been accepted into a company that I was hungry for,” she added. “It doesn’t happen like that often. You come in, sing your song and then you’re gone, you know? And that was completely different. It truly felt like a welcome, wrapping us in a blanket of love.”

With two concerts still to come, Miles and Haysbert took a few minutes Friday morning to reflect on the importance of taking part in a beloved annual tradition.

“Everyone on the planet should hear stories like this”

Haysbert was visibly emotional on Thursday evening as he told the story of Mulli, who was abandoned by his parents at the age of six and then remained homeless for several years before gradually building a business empire in Kenya.

After a change of heart, Mulli eventually sold his businesses and dedicated his life to saving children who were as vulnerable as they once were – an initiative in which he continues to be actively involved more than 30 years later.

When Haysbert welcomed Mulli to the stage on Thursday evening – Mulli’s presence had been kept secret until then – the two shook hands and shared a long hug as the audience gave the philanthropist a massive standing ovation.

Haysbert pulled out a tissue and began wiping his eyes as they sat together on stage to briefly talk about the power of doing the will of God.

“Every time I read this,” he said, choking up as he tapped his hand over his heart a few times. “Thank you for inspiring us tonight. For inspiring me. Merry Christmas to you and your family.”

Haysbert still had tears in his eyes Friday morning and had to pause several times to regain his composure while speaking to reporters about his role as narrator.

It was a “no-brainer” to join after reading the script, he said.

“I had a hard time getting through the first paragraph,” Haysbert said. “That first paragraph killed me when I found out someone was left alone at six o’clock. … I can’t imagine a child of six years old walking to the end of the block in an American city, let alone, you know, walking three days to Nairobi. … It’s a hard story to get through, but I love the feeling that comes over me when I tell it. Everyone on the planet should hear stories like this.”

Mulli, who sat to Haysbert’s left during Friday morning’s press conference, revealed even more details of his story.

At age 16, he said, he considered taking his own life when he received an invitation to church. This gave him a new sense of purpose and direction.

He started looking for work opportunities and eventually founded his own transport company. Over the years he became accustomed to a life of comfort.

And then the day came when Mulli turned away homeless children who needed money, sparking an internal struggle. Ultimately, he came to the conclusion that he had to give away everything he had and open his home to children in need.

“For many years I forgot where I came from,” Mulli said Friday morning. “It’s just a normal nature of humanity, it’s very easy to forget.

“Through faith you can do great things, not for yourself, but for him who lives with us here, but above. This is our God,” he added.

Haysbert wiped away tears as he listened to Mulli. The actor, known for his role in the TV series “24,” said that the accompaniment of the choir and orchestra while telling Mulli’s story added another layer of meaning for him.

“It just fills me up and I just hope it resonates with the audience – and apparently it has,” he said. “But it is such a wonderful feeling to be able to be in this place and present this work and these words and know that they are true. … I wish everyone in the world could hear this, I really do.”

An emotional debut for Miles

Miles was also emotional as she made her Tabernacle Choir debut Thursday night.

Having her mother in the audience means a lot to her, she said Friday, because music was the most important way for her to communicate with each other growing up.

The Tony Award-winning singer often helped her mother, who was her church pianist and choir director, make copies of sheet music that the church choir sang and rehearsed on Sundays. On long car rides when she was an angsty teenager, Miles said her mother would relieve the tension by playing a game with her in which she would choose a song and make up a harmony to it – and then challenge her to create a different harmony to find . The two often listened to chamber music and choral music, including the Tabernacle Choir.

“I never imagined that one day I would be able to stand on stage and perform with them,” she told reporters, adding that having her mother witness her big moment was “an additional gift.”

Both Miles and Haysbert praised the conference center as a venue for its unique quality of being large and intimate at the same time.

Although Haysbert joked that “the walk from the aisle to the stage seems like an eternity,” he said he could feel the connection with his audience.

A strategy from Mack Wilberg

This year’s holiday concerts run through December 21st and will be available to an even larger audience next year on PBS and BYUtv.

The approximately 90-minute concert manages to seamlessly combine international Christmas songs, a jazzy organ solo, a heartfelt story and new and old Christmas music.

It’s not always easy to bring together such disparate elements into a cohesive whole, but Mack Wilberg, the choir’s music director, said it’s a strategy that’s vital to the continued success of the choir’s Christmas concerts.

“It’s like a great meal. If everything tastes the same, it’s not great food,” he told reporters. “If there’s a little bit of this, a little bit of that, but it’s still consistent, maybe it was cooked by the same person, so there’s a unity that comes with that experience. And so in music or anything else it will sound the same if everything has the same tempo, if everything has the same texture. That’s why we strive for unity in the program, but also for many contrasts within this unity.”

At this point, the choir’s Christmas program is a pretty well-oiled machine. Wilberg knows what matters and has his strategies to make it happen. But as he said during a recent Zoom call promoting last year’s concert, which aired on PBS and BYUtv earlier this week, there’s still a moment when he wonders if he’ll make it.

“The Christmas concert is certainly our performance on steroids, if you will, because there are so many elements that have to come together,” he said. “We hold our breath every year.”