POCATELLO — Merry Christmas Darling: Carpenters’ Christmas, the special holiday version of We’ve Only Just Begun: Carpenters Remembered, will be in east Idaho Thursday. The show plays the Jensen Grand Concert Hall of Stephens Performing Arts Center in Pocatello on Thursday, December 15.
Based around the Carpenters’ iconic Christmas albums, Merry Christmas Darling: Carpenters’ Christmas began its holiday run with a performance at Zwermann Arts Center Theater in Illinois on November 17.
Led by singer Michelle Berting Brett and accompanied by a live, seven-piece Nashville band directed by Harry Sharpe, the show re-creates the Carpenters’ original sound, presenting an intimate behind-the-scenes portrait of one of the most successful recording acts of all time.
Merry Christmas Darling: Carpenters’ Christmas follows the format of its parent We’ve Only Just Begun: Carpenters Remembered in that the history of the Carpenters is told via their iconic songs.
For the Christmas presentation, Berting Brett focuses attention on the duo’s Christmas albums and television specials as well as talking about their Christmas experiences. The festive show includes holiday classics such as “Sleigh Ride,” “The Christmas Song,” “Santa Claus is Coming to Town,” “Winter Wonderland,” “Jingle Bells,” “I’ll Be Home for Christmas,” “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” “Do You Hear What I Hear,” and of course, “Merry Christmas Darling.”
The show’s holiday music is culled from the Carpenters’ Christmas Portrait (1978) and an Old-Fashioned Christmas (released in 1984 after the death of Karen Carpenter). A two-CD set of those two albums was released as the Christmas Collection, making Carpenters’ holiday music an enduring staple of every holiday season. The holiday edition of the show also generously intersperses the Carpenters’ well-known classics, among them “We’ve Only Just Begun,” “Yesterday Once More” and a rousing medley of the Carpenters’ greatest hits. The Carpenters have sold well over 100 million records worldwide.
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