Diversity of talent to turn out for spectacular show

Singer Carl Kelley calls the more than 100 performers in "A Christmas Spectacular" "a huge diversity of talent."

They perform pop, jazz and classical holiday tunes. Swing, tap and Latin dance. Choral works and a suite of original songs from a Broadway-themed minimusical.

The show, Saturday at the Everett Theatre, brings a greater variety of talents under one roof than any other event in the county's holiday season.

"There is always something for everybody in this show — every year," Kelley said.

This year's theme is "heroes fighting hunger."

Any nonperishable food items brought to the show — and the Volunteers of America will accept more than the minimum five — go immediately to feed a growing number of needy families served by the Everett food bank, according to Bill Humphreys, vice president of operations for Volunteers of America Western Washington.

At least one in nine people in the county will visit a food bank at least one time during the year, said Humphreys.

"The level of hunger — what we call 'food insecurity,' the inability to meet their nutritional needs through their own personal resources — is high," Humphreys said. "If families are spending a disproportional part of their income on housing costs, they have less to spend on medical needs and food. They are primarily seniors on fixed income and the working poor."

The show starts with a 10-minute video featuring heroes of all kinds, including Suzanne Eviston, canine officer for the Everett Police Department; the firefighters of Everett Fire Station 1; Army medic James Swenson; and the Anderson family, which has a "special needs" child.

This year's music features holiday standards as well as original holiday songs by music director and pianist Dehner Franks, who colleagues call "the spiritual center of 'A Christmas Spectacular.' "

Franks, who performs regularly at Caesar's Palace, has added a jazz twist to "My Favorite Things" and composed "Santa Swing,"a featured song among dozens of other originals.

Kelley, one of the founders of the a cappella group M-Pact, says each year, "There's an element of patriotism and the spirit of Christmas" in the show. He calls Franks, a friend for more than 19 years, "one of the best pianists west of the Mississippi."

"People are drawn to his musicial ability. But people are also drawn to his heart," said Kelley. "You hear his heart in his music, whether it's playing in a lounge or doing a big stage presentation in Las Vegas."

Kelley and Franks did an arrangement of a popular R&B song, "This Christmas," by Donnie Hathaway, and Kelley is featured in "Happy Holidays," a duet with choir director Shelley Logan.

Logan also leads her Snohomish Girls' Choir in several songs.

Carols and pop tunes run through the show, from "Good King Wensceslas" to "Let it Snow" and "Baby, It's Cold Outside."

Among the many group voices are the Everett Police Choir singing the "Star-Spangled Banner," the Snohomish Girls Choir singing "Jamaican Noel," "Wintersong" and other songs, and the Imagine Children's Choir singing "Look Into the Rainbow."

The Dorothy Jayne Dancers do swing, jazz and Latin numbers. Jack Klitzman fronts an eight-piece band onstage, and another Franks' tune, "Jump, Jive Jimmy Jam," is danced by former Rockette Eleanor Leight, with Jimmy Scheider and Josh Wingerter.

Ksenia Popova, Megan Chenovick, Jimmy Scheider and Kelley sing Franks' original tune, "Santa Swing."

There's also a minimusical, and scenes and songs from "Yellow Blue Bus," featuring Chenovick. She portrays a beloved dance teacher motivating her students in three of the songs from the musical in progress, along with New York City Opera singer Victor Benedetti, Olivia Hassebrock and Andrew St. Marie, a Soundsation jazz bass-baritone from Edmonds Community College. This is Benedetti's fourth year with "A Christmas Spectacular," and he and actress-singer Katie Tomlinson sing works from a recent Christmas CD they recorded.

The show, in its seventh year, is produced by Sanford Wright Jr. and emceed by Brian Tracey, a former host of "Evening" magazine. New this year is a three CD-project. Three cast album CDs of the show were produced at Triad Studios in Redmond, said Kelley.

The CDs — "Home For The Holidays," "This Christmas" and "Noel Nouvelet" — will be sold at the concert and after the show at participating businesses, a list of which can be found on the show's Web site. The show also will be broadcast the following day on the Web site.

Donations from sales of the $15 CDs leverage 15 meals — a dollar a meal — to the hungry.

Diane Wright: 425-745-7815 or dwright@seattletimes.com