You know these guys. One’s timeless; the other turned 60 this year. Winslow Townson photograph
Seeing the world through the eyes of a child—that’s what Keith Lockhart and the Boston Pops want everyone to do.
Lockhart brings the orchestra, the Metropolitan Chorale and the oversized guy in the red suit to the Providence Performing Arts Center this Saturday to begin the Holiday Pops season. Making sure that adults remember how to be little kids will be part of their mission.
“How many legends involve adults viewing the world through their childhood,” Lockhart asks rhetorically. “Something like ‘Polar Express’—it’s really about believing, and maintaining your belief.”
An arrangement of Chris Van Allsburg’s unforgettable train ride to the North Pole, with music from the film version, forms the centerpiece of this season’s program. The Holiday Pops program has included “Polar Express” many times in the past, but this year Lockhart brings a video presentation as well—scenes taken from Van Allsburg’s book illustrations.
Lockhart doesn’t just string along a bunch of Christmas carols with “Polar Express”; the holiday program looks for balance between an array of classics and some old-fashioned sing-along fun.
“There’s lots of internal thinking that goes into what would match up with ‘Polar Express,’ ” he says. “It takes up almost half the program. We added selections from ‘Amahl and the Night Visitors,’ and the ‘Carol of the Drum’ (Little Drummer Boy). And the ‘Nutcracker’—that’s the ultimate way to see the holiday through the eyes of the children.
“Once I’ve decided what the basic structure is—I think of it like lessons and carols, with both religious and humanistic texts—then we fill it out. We have a new arrangement of ‘Sleigh Ride’ this year”—the Leroy Anderson work that was originally recorded by Arthur Fiedler and the Pops in 1949. And of course ‘The Twelve Days of Christmas.’ That’s something that Keith Lockhart and the Pops cannot not do. And the guy in the red suit always shows up.”
The program has to be sturdy—Lockhart and the Pops orchestra perform 44 times over the course of the month of December. The Providence appearance kicks off a half-a-dozen touring presentations around the Northeast, and the rest of the programs take place in Symphony Hall.
Lockhart has some help, of course. There are actually two orchestras—the Boston Pops for Symphony Hall, and the Pops Esplanade Orchestra for the road dates. Tanglewood Festival Chorus conductor James Burton takes the baton in Boston when Lockhart is on the road, and the estimable Metropolitan Chorale, led by Lisa Graham, joins Lockhart for the run-outs.
“It’s some fun, and some classics—everyone wants to be there,” Lockhart says, as he embarks on his 25th anniversary holiday performing marathon, which sometimes includes three concerts a day. “It is the most wonderful time of the year.”
The Boston Pops, Keith Lockhart conducting, performs on Sat., Nov. 30 at 8:00 p.m. at the Providence Performing Arts Center, 220 Weybosset St., Providence. Tickets are $58–$130. Call (401) 421-2787 or visit ppacri.org.