Forgotten Carols - review

This is a show that I look forward to every year! It always brings me into the holiday spirit. 

The songs are wonderful and heartfelt.

This year was especially great! Mr McLean changed and updated the production. There was a new song too! I was happy the previous songs were still there, but I loved the new way they were shown. This is a wonderful production!

 ‘THE FORGOTTEN CAROLS’ Playing in 11 Cities this Holiday Season

-The 28^th Year Brings a New ‘Re-imagined’ Version of the Holiday Tradition to the Stage-

Salt Lake City – The Forgotten Carols, a Holiday season tradition marking its 28^th year of consecutive performances, is coming to your home town! This year signals the introduction of a new, “re-imagined” version of the musical with 19 performances covering 11 cities in Utah, Idaho and Arizona. For a list of locations and to buy tickets, visit www.forgottencarols.com.

Michael McLean, a well-known performer, composer, songwriter, author and director initially developed The Forgotten Carols as solely a theme-driven album of new Christmas music. But he soon realized he needed a story to connect all the songs together. McLean wrote the interweaving story of a nurse named Connie Lou who cares for John, an elderly patient who shares the songs about those people he claims to have lived with 2,000 years ago. For his initial performances, McLean played all the parts to give people a sense of how families could present the narration at home hoping it would become a family tradition.

Over the years, McLean’s modest one-man show has evolved into a full scale theatrical production performed for more than a million people throughout the United States and abroad, including shows in Ireland, Germany, England and the Ukraine. And now, after 28 years, McLean is surprising his audiences with significant changes to his classic story!

“People who have been coming for years will be thrilled, I believe, with the changes we’ve made this year,” remarked McLean. “For a few years now, my son and I have been thinking about updating the story, and this year we decided to dive in and do it. Fans will hear the same songs, see the same characters, but experience the story in a completely new way!”

McLean is currently working on adapting the stage version of The Forgotten Carols as a feature film, and it was this process that inspired the story changes. “After we wrote the screenplay for the film, there were so many elements we fell in love with that just had to be in the stage version,” said McLean. “And the changes we’ve made just feel right. They make the characters deeper, the story more spiritual, and the experience that much richer.”

 So, if you’ve been coming for years – come again! And if you’re a new fan – you won’t want to miss your chance to see what we are calling The Forgotten Carols – Reimagined!” quipped McLean.

The Forgotten Carols 2019 concert schedule includes performances in Arizona, Idaho, and Utah. Performance tickets are on sale now. For a complete listing of concert dates and locations or to purchase tickets visit the website at www.forgottencarols.com.

SYNOPSIS

This season, we invite you to join us for this beautifully re-imagined telling of Michael McLean’s holiday tradition THE FORGOTTEN CAROLS. Touring since 1991, this timeless Christmas tradition brings to life the story of Constance Louise Chamberlain, a nurse who hasn’t laughed or cried in over 30 years.  But that all changes when she meets, and cares for, a homeless man with dementia (Uncle John, as he likes to be called) who insists he’s been alive for over two thousand years.  Uncle John recounts the story of Christ’s birth through these Forgotten Carols sung from the perspective of his “friends” the Inn Keeper, a Shepherd, Handel and others, taking Connie Lou on a life-altering journey.  As Uncle John struggles to remember all the reasons why he feels compelled to share these unknown carols with his nurse, she discovers what her heart has forgotten about the true power and meaning of Christmas!

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Forgotten Carols -- Review

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Today is the last show of the year!

My review

I have seen this show several times in the past and for some reason this year, it touched me more than it ever has. I was carried away with the wonderful spirit of this amazing show. The performers were so good and their voices were strong. Yes, the jokes were the same, but this year I needed this show more than before. The message is beautiful and is heart felt. "Let Him in" and "We can be together forever someday" had the tears flowing. I am so grateful for the opportunity I had to go.

The Forgotten Carols stage performance tells the story of Connie Lou, a nurse whose empty life is changed when Uncle John, a new patient she is attending, recounts the story of Christ’s birth as told by little known characters in the nativity story. The accounts from the Innkeeper, the Shepherd and others help the nurse discover what the world has forgotten about Christmas, ultimately encouraging her to open her heart to the joy of this special season.

A message from Michael McLean:

After the Forgotten Carols tour last year Lynne and I took our annual recoup vacation where it’s sunny and warm and there’s lots of beach. However, while there, I wasn’t having a good time. I felt awful, and said to Lynne one morning after a rough night’s sleep, “I think I’m dying!” She gets me and she’s sort of right about me and the drama thing. But, then it turns out I wouldn’t up in the hospital and stayed longer than I expected to, and we discovered that had I not arrived when I did, someone else would be playing Uncle John tonight and you all would be singing “Together Forever Someday to ME! I share this for the obvious reasons: to get your sympathy and to possibly get this response, “Well, for a dying guy, he did pretty well tonight.”

The whole health scare after our last tour has now changed the way I have rehearsed this part that I’ve been doing for 27 years. I’ve been wondering how someone like John, who’s lived for over two thousand years and never faced his own death, feels about those of us who do face it. And, of course, I’ve been thinking how lucky I am to be with you tonight, for this evening’s show that will be ours alone. I love theater because it’s something we share, in the moment, and it will never be duplicated. It’s the gift of our connection through this story, and these characters, and these “forgotten carols,” that reminds us why Christmas, at its purest, brings such tidings for great joy. And through these songs from all the different people who experienced Jesus and His message in different ways, we get to see ourselves and feel a connection that goes beyond being in the theater tonight; we get to feel, deep down, that we are absolutely not alone. At least, that’s my hope.

Merry Christmas,
Michael McLean

Forgotten Carols -- Spotlight/Giveaway

I have seen The Forgotten Carols many times and each time I am touched by the special story and its message and how it brings me into the spirit of Christmas.

Q & A with Michael McLean:

1. What is your favorite Forgotten Carol scene?

I have so many scenes in THE FORGOTTEN CAROLS that are “favorites” for a variety of reasons.  But I’m surprised, performance after performance, how often something touches me differently and teaches me something that I’ve missed in performances past.  It’s the gift of doing this show for 26 years.  I keep learning things, understanding things, and feeling things that bring me closer to the One Christmas is all about…the One who we remember…It’s about remembering what’s been “forgotten” when it comes to the meaning of Christmas. 

2. Do you have a favorite snack you enjoy while traveling to each tour city? 

I'm a diabetic, so this is sort of a trick question.  I crave chocolate cake donuts, but have to eat Kind Bars.  That’s the reality, but the truth is, I cheat sometimes…and take a little bit more insulin to make up for it.  Don’t tell anybody :)

3. What do you enjoy most when you’re on the road performing? 

The older I get the more exhausting it is to be traveling from place to place…but the joy of that travel when it’s with people I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE to pieces.  The cast and the crew make it a joy beyond measure.  

4.       During the last song when the audience is hand-in-hand singing, what emotions do you feel from the stage? 

When the encore segment of The Forgotten Carols happens, I find myself focusing on the meaning of “together forever”.   Is it something that we hope will happen someday, somewhere down the road, or is it something we can feel right now, this moment?  Some nights I feel like I should sing a different lyric for families that can’t buy in to the idea of an eternal connection, for whatever reasons, and the appropriate lyric for them would be, “We can be together, whatever, today”.  Some nights, thinking about my own family and the challenges we face, those words are a great comfort and a celebration of now.  I believe that what happens to me, and many people who attend The Forgotten Carols, is that together in that moment, we feel the love and peace and comfort that comes at Christmas time to remind us that we are never alone, and the One whose birth we celebrate is ALWAYS with us.   Here’s a news flash for you, my blogger friends.  I’M ADDING A NEW CAROL TO THE SHOW THIS YEAR that I think will shine a beautiful light on that thought.  Hope y’all come and hear me sing it!!!

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Forgotten Carols 25th Anniversary -- Review

Popular Musical Production ‘The Forgotten Carols’ celebrates 25th Anniversary

The Forgotten Carols, a seasonal concert favorite, celebrates its 25^th anniversary this year.  Michael McLean, a well-known performer, composer, songwriter, author and director staged his first one-man concert in 1991 with the hopes of it becoming a tradition families would enjoy. For those first performances McLean played all the parts to give people a sense of how families could create their own narration at home.

Over the course of the last 25 years, McLean’s modest one-man show has evolved into a huge theatrical production with over 1 million concertgoers enjoying the music that has become a time-honored Christmas tradition and attracts repeat attendance from guests of all ages. The show has been produced all over the world in limited runs, including shows in Ireland, Germany, England and even Ukraine. “One of the great things about touring is seeing the familiar faces that have been coming for years and are part of the Forgotten Carols family,” shares McLean. “New comers and longtime devoted fans of this production keep the magic of the performance alive. We embrace, giggle, and sometimes cry at these reunions.” 

The Forgotten Carols 2016 concert schedule includes performances in four states Utah, Idaho, Nevada, and Arizona. The production has arranged over 20 shows in 12 different cities and showcases an elegant arrangement of special musical choral performances and solos. McLean stars as one of the musical’s primary characters, John, an elderly gentleman who helps Constance, a young nurse who can’t be bothered with Christmas, discover a new love for the season.   

Each year, local community and student choirs are invited to perform alongside the professional Forgotten Carol company members during the concert in their cities. It’s important to McLean and the show's producers to preserve this tradition that keeps the magic alive for an enchanting experience each year.

Performance tickets are on sale now. For a complete listing of concert dates and locations or to purchase tickets visit the website at www.forgottencarols.com.

My Review

My husband and I were fortunate to see The Forgotten Carols last week.  I have seen The Forgotten Carols before, but it had been a long time, and I was really excited to see it again.  The songs were beautiful, just as I remember.  Michael McLean does a fantastic job playing John.  The actors were great for their rolls and Constance was perfect.  I had forgotten how funny it was too, especially John.  I also get teary when I hear "Mary Let me Hold Her Baby", this time was no different.  

There are still some shows left this week!

Video: https://youtu.be/ffmjw1NtHgw

FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/forgottencarols

RECENT NEWS INTERVIEW:
http://www.good4utah.com/news/midday/where-to-see-the-forgotten-carols