West Michigan music fans are in for a holiday treat this month as the Trans-Siberian Orchestra brings “The Lost Christmas Eve,” a multi-platinum rock opera that opened to resounding acclaim a year ago, to the Van Andel Arena.Grand Rapids is among just 67 cities nationwide to host this big-arena rock-and-roll show, hosting two of the 100 shows scheduled on the tour.
Show times for the local performances at Van Andel are 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 15. Tickets are available, if it isn’t sold out yet, at Van Andel Arena, DeVos Place and Ticketmaster ticket centers.
God’s Kitchen and the Boys & Girls Clubs of Grand Rapids will be beneficiaries of the local performances, with a portion of the proceeds supporting the local charities.
For those who haven’t seen it, “The Lost Christmas Eve” is a musical treat with inspiration drawn from rock, classical, R&B and theatrical influences. It tells the intertwined story of a Christmas Eve in New York City shared between the inhabitants of a rundown hotel, a blues bar, a Gothic cathedral and an old toy store.
TSO founder Paul O’Neill, acclaimed for his vision of rock theater that combines Broadway storytelling, has said this tour will be the last time “The Lost Christmas Eve” – including the hit “Wizards in Winter” – will be performed in its entirety.
Considered among the biggest arena rock acts in the world, the TSO has performed more than 1,500 shows in front of more than 10 million fans in the past 15 years.
Critics have said this is a spectacle worth seeing, and O’Neill’s work has been compared to earlier rock operas ranging from Andrew Lloyd Weber musicals to the Who’s “Tommy” and Pink Floyd’s rock operas and light shows.”The whole idea,” O’Neill has said, “was to create a progressive rock band that would push the boundaries further than any group before, following in the footsteps of Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Pink Floyd, the Who…but take it way, way further.”A New York City native, O’Neill mentions other influences ranging from Motown singers and songwriters to Jim Croce and Harry Chapin. He’s played guitar touring in both “Jesus Christ Superstar” and “Hair.”
Van Andel is sure to be rocking!