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Barry opened with Happy Holidays tonight. He walked out in a gorgeous, bright red jacket with matching red tie. It really brings out the blue in his eyes.
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Barry sang a portion of that song, then went to the left side stage area where the backups had already come out dressed in Santa-type fur costumes. They all sang White Christmas.
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Both side stage areas have large Christmas trees up (need lights). The left side has poinsettias around the tree, while the right side has lots of presents under the tree.
These were just the first two of many Christmas songs throughout the show. I was thrilled with all of the Christmas songs - I guess the kid in me wants to remember those days when I was excited from Thanksgiving to New Year's.
Barry then went into his normal opening medley. He must have been in a great mood tonight - he did cute little dance steps throughout Daybreak.
The whole gang sang Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer for us. That one's always fun. Keely does funny voices during the song. And Kye really does! And I saw a first tonight - Monica got tongue-tied during her first part in the song - that NEVER happens. But after trying to get it straight, she finally just threw up her hands and said (paraphrased), "Oh, whatever!" LOL You know, seeing letter-perfect performances night after night may show how talented these people are, but the little goofs are where the sense of family comes out. I haven't grown to love this show and the performers so much because of all the perfect performances - it's because I've been fortunate enough to see the real people emerge when things aren't quite so perfect. It's not the show I love, it's the people in it.
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Toward the end of the song, Barry and Melanie do a little dance (jitterbug, maybe), then Barry and Monica dance. Then Monica turned around and... Well, see for yourself!
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Barry did a fantastic rendition of Weekend in New England. It was just beautiful - no other words to describe it.
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I know I have things out of order (just writing as it pops into my mind). Barry sang I Made It Through the Rain. There seemed to be a different "air" about the song tonight - actually, there was something different about a lot of songs. Lana mentioned that the Wednesday night show seemed romantic. I didn't pick up on that in this show - there was something else - but I can't find a word to describe it.
They did the decades medley. When it got to the part where Barry does his little pretend tap dance (which we think is cute!), he did it - then did it again with a smirk on his face - and then said... Uh, I can't repeat what he said. But it made everyone laugh!
They also did New York City Rhythm. This one was even more fun than usual - Ron P, Joe and Ron W really seemed to be having a competition. And even though Ron P tried to sneak in at the end and steal it, Joe wins this one hands down.
Barry also sang Can't Smile Without You. I noticed Barry playing the piano a little differently than he usually does - it was cute, kind of made the song more light-hearted. At the end of the song, most of the crowd was standing - I wasn't for some reason - but most of the crowd was. And Barry was just beaming. He made a remark about how great the crowd was.
And Barry sang Memory - that one always brings the crowd to their feet at the end. He sings it with so much emotion. Tonight I didn't even attempt to take photos as he was conducting - I just wanted to watch him.
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I saw Barry doing quite a bit of conducting tonight. Most of it was very subtle, but it was there. I really enjoyed watching that.
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Almost forgot Looks Like We Made It. Barry probably put more emotion into this song than any other tonight, with the exception of WINE. And he made it sexy, too.
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Barry threw in a couple more Christmas songs for us. First he did The Christmas Song - this arrangement seemed much more jazzy than the version on the CD - and Barry was really into it. He was almost carried away by the music. He performed the song leaning up against the piano - and this was toward the back of the set - they didn't bring the piano forward.
Then Barry grabbed a stool and came to the front of the stage to do The Christmas Waltz. That one was really beautiful, too. It was another one where I saw him doing some subtle conducting. And Barry also seemed to be very much into this song. I missed most of it because I was so focused on Barry, but Kye and Melanie were doing a waltz during the song.
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And then Barry sang River. Always a favorite, even though it's kind of sad. Barry was introducing it, and got to the part where he explains that the song is about a breakup at the holidays - and the audience started cheering. Barry said, "Oh, you know the song - I thought you were applauding a holiday breakup." Barry did a beautiful job on it.
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My favorite Christmas song of the night was Christmas Is Just Around the Corner. I actually think this is my favorite of all that he's done. I love Because It's Christmas, and I love Santa Claus is Coming to Town - but neither one can compare with this new one. Barry started the song off at the piano, surrounded by the backups - later during the song Barry moved to the front of the stage. It's just fun and up-beat and makes you feel good - it even made me forget the holiday blues. At the end of the song, Kye brings out a really sad looking little Christmas tree.
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Barry is still acting out Ships. He really outdid himself tonight, especially when he was doing the old man part of the song.
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Mandy/Could It Be Magic also seemed different tonight. The tone was just different - very matter-of-fact - not really emotional or passionate, but still with feeling. Mandy was especially that way - Could It Be Magic had a slightly different tone.
Copa was interesting from the very beginning tonight. As usual, the backups start saying "Where's Manilow?" and then Barry appears at the top of the stairs. Well, tonight he just stayed up there doing a silly little dance - until he had all of us AND all of the backups laughing. Then when it came time for the platform, it didn't come all the way down to the floor - it stopped about 3 feet from the floor. The look on Barry's face was priceless. I don't know if he actually said it, or if the look on his face just conveyed it, but the basic message was, "I ain't going up on that thing". So, they did what they normally do on the platform on the main stage - well, they did some of it - Monica and Barry did their little dance. Then Barry motioned for Kye to come forward and they did their best Michael Jackson imitation. No, I didn't take photos of it.
The platform didn't move - it stayed down for It's a Miracle. When the streamers shot out, many of them got caught in the platform. That didn't keep those darn little mylar missiles from hitting me, though - and I have proof this time! One of those unfurled little projectiles went down the back of my shirt (after whacking me in the back of the neck) - so I get to take home the entire thing!
Some of the streamers still made their way on to the stage. The last funny moment from the show was watching Barry try to shake one off his hand.
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