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Saturday, January 18, 2025

Carols by Candlelight offers reminders of reason for the season

The Christmas spirit can be difficult to find in these dark times. At Christmas, however, it helps to light a candle rather than curse the world’s darkness.

The candles were lit long ago for Alex Santoriello, in a place far away from The Villages.

And on Saturday night they flickered in the darkness of Savannah Center, glowing like stars in a black sky. It was all part of “Carols by Candlelight.”

Alex Santoriello in powerful voice during Carols by Candlelight
Alex Santoriello in powerful voice during Carols by Candlelight.


“We wanted to have real candles,” Santoriello said from the stage. “But they wouldn’t let us. So, please use the (battery-operated flameless) ones you got when you came in.”
They not only handed out flameless candles for this musical event; the talented cast gave out some genuine Christmas cheer.
Santoriello started this holiday tradition about 20 years ago in Barbados. The goal was to raise money for Rotary. He left a Broadway career to run a small club on the island.
And every Christmas season, he put on a holiday show filled with holiday songs and highlighted by his version of “You Raise Me Up.”
The show was held outside and “there were thousands of people who came to see it,” Santoriello said. “They would hold up candles when I sang that song. It was special.”
So was the program on Saturday night. It will run again Sunday at 4 and 7 p.m. Showtime on Monday is 4 p.m.
This is the seventh year Santoriello has produced the musical in The Villages. It has raised over $100,000 for the Rotary Club of The Villages, he said.
The show was filled with enough holiday music to make the grinchiest Grinch feel all warm and cozy.

Peter Ely was an elf handing out flameless candles to the audience for Carols by Candlelight
Peter Ely was an elf handing out flameless candles to the audience for Carols by Candlelight.

There were moments of laughter; moments of joy, and moments filled with spiritual reminders of what Christmas really means.
Lee Mueller did just that when he sang a reverent and powerful version of “Silent Night.” He sang half the song in English, and half in German.

During the song, the lights were turned down and audience members held up the candles. They did the same when Santoriello offered Christmas lyrics to the Leonard Cohen classic, “Hallelujah.”

Christmas, though, can be an excuse to goof around like a kid once more. Bobbi Steel-Marotta had a blast singing “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus,” as the big guy in the white beard and red suit was caught smooching.

Teresha Lee was rocking around the Christmas tree
Teresha Lee was rocking around the Christmas tree.

Teresha Lee and Linda Payne helped Santa chill out as they offered a sultry version of “Santa Baby.”

Lee picked up the beat with “Rocking Around the Christmas Tree,” and Garry Gibbons brought back more oldies-but-goodies memories with a lively “Jingle Bell Rock.”

Steel-Marotta, Lee and Gibbons had some fun with that old Villages’ favorite: “Grandma Got Runover by a Reindeer.” The cast pulled off a surprise ending that caught Grandma and the Reindeer by surprise.

Gibbons, with some help from the ladies, delivered a tender “White Christmas.”

Linda Payne has to deal with a hippopotomus
Linda Payne has to deal with a hippopotamus.

Payne had fun with her Christmas wish, singing “I Want A Hippopotamus For Christmas.” As she sang, a big, green inflated-Hippopotamus float bounced around in the background.

The whole cast joined in for a rollicking “Joy to the World,” and tossed in a few licks from the old Three Dog Night song. The cast was helped by a five-piece live band.

The cast of Carols by Candlelight gets into the Christmas spirit
The cast of Carols by Candlelight gets into the Christmas spirit.

The highlight of the night came when Santoriello sang “You Raise Me Up.” His Broadway experience, stage persona and powerful voice all combined to turn the number into a thankful prayer.
Santoriello knows how to sell a song. There are times, though, when he isn’t just performing. He has a way of digging deep into himself to make the emotion and the music real.
Maybe it’s all part of the show, but, somehow, watching and listening to Santoriello, you get the feeling it comes from the heart.

The audience brought light to Candles by Candlelight
The audience brought light to Candles by Candlelight.

And that’s what Christmas is all about.

Tony Violanti covers music and entertainment for Villages-News.com. He was inducted into The Buffalo Music Hall of Fame as a music journalist.

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