Lesley Nicol says ‘Downton’ co-star urged her to tell ‘Tabernacle’ Christmas

NEW YORK, Dec. 17 (UPI) — Lesley Nicol says she Downton Abbey Co-star Hugh Bonneville and her late brother were instrumental in her participation in the 21st annual PBS and BYUtv special. Joy: Christmas with the Tabernacle Choir.

Nicol, 71, narrates this year’s Victor Hugo-themed music event, where Broadway star Michael Maliakel, 36, sings Christmas carols and excerpts from the musical and film alongside the famous choir and orchestra The Hunchback of Notre Dame.

With musical direction by Mack Wilberg, the recorded program will premiere Tuesday on PBS and its streaming platforms and Thursday on BYUtv and its apps.

“When (Bonneville) heard I was asked to do this, he just said, ‘You should consider me your mentor. You have to do this. You’ll never do anything like that again. You won’t.’ “I’ve done something like this before,” Nicol told UPI in a recent Zoom chat with reporters.

“I would say the same thing to (future artists), because that’s true. That is absolutely true. He just said, ‘Just go ahead and do it.'”

Maliakel’s advice to all who come after him tabernacle For Christmas productions, it is important that they are fully prepared and know their lyrics and musical arrangements “inside out” so that when they arrive in Utah to record the performance, they can be present and enjoy the experience.

“It all happens very quickly and comes together very quickly and I think my best memories were just the moments of just looking around and taking it all in and the incredible hard work of all the musicians and everyone who does it , could be grateful.” “We came together to pull this off,” said Maliakel.

“If you’re worrying about all the little nitpicky musical things in that moment, then you don’t really have the chance to fully grasp what an incredible thing is happening in front of you. So I did my best.” Be as present as possible and I would advise anyone who gets to do this again to do the same.

Maliakel, who played the title character Aladdin He starred on Broadway for three years and said he was thrilled the special was taped so he could relive the experience at home.

“Luckily it’s filmed so beautifully that you have this amazing archive of the experiences you had with the behind-the-scenes footage and everything,” he said. “It’s a big responsibility, but the experience is so enjoyable and beautiful.”

Maliakel and Nicol take time during the show to offer heartfelt insights into their personal lives and share a few words about why this event and the holiday it celebrates are meaningful to them.

“It was very collaborative and we were able to really decide what we wanted to share,” Maliakel said.

He recalled telling the production team about his background as a Catholic, having seen the Tabernacle performances on television as a child and eventually beginning to sing in his own church choir.

“A lot of that went into the way we chose the music for the show, and then later when it came to deciding what kind of stories we would tell to shape each piece,” he added.

Nicol remembered how her brother, who was British but lived in South Carolina, made watching the Tabernacle Christmas special part of his Christmas tradition every year.

“He always wanted to see the Tabernacle Choir. He watched it on TV every year, loved it, idolized Mack, was in awe of him, and could never get a ticket because it’s pretty hard to get a ticket. “The producers noticed immediately and flew my family out of South Carolina,” she said.

“The poignant thing is that – unfortunately I have to say, this happened last December – he died in August. So he met Mack and got to watch the show, and he got to see his little sister in the middle of that phase and that was a huge gift. The fact that it was his last year on this planet makes it even more special.