The moving story of a Kenyan philanthropist drew the "24'' actor to take part in the choir's 25th annual Christmas tradition.
When Dennis Haysbert first heard that The Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square would devote its annual Christmas concert to the story of Kenyan philanthropist Charles Mulli, the actor said it was a "done deal" that he would be a part of it.
"This was a no-brainer for me ... I have to be the one who tells this story," Haysbert said Friday, sitting next to Mulli at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' Conference Center -- where the final Christmas concert will happen Saturday at 8 p.m.
Tickets have been distributed for the concert, though a standby line will start forming at 6:30 p.m. at Temple Square in downtown Salt Lake City. Haysbert, Broadway star Ruthie Ann Miles and the choir also performed Thursday and Friday nights.
"This performance is the Christmas spirit on a monumental scale," the choir's president, former Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt, said at a news conference Friday. "We are deeply grateful that [Haysbert, Miles and Mulli] have loaned [their] abundant talents ... to this purpose."
(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) Singer Ruthie Ann Miles, actor Dennis Haysbert and philanthropist Charles Mulli, from left, talk about the Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square's annual Christmas concert, during a news conference at the Conference Center, on Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. Haysbert narrates the concert, which tells the story of Mulli's life as an orphan in Kenya.
Those who can't get a ticket to Saturday's concert can attend a broadcast of the choir's "Music & the Spoken Word," Sunday at 9:30 a.m. in the Conference Center. Haysbert and Miles will perform with the choir in a shortened version of the concert program. Doors open at 8:15 a.m.; guests are asked to be seated by 9:15 a.m. Tickets are not required, and audience members must be 8 years old or older. The program airs live on KSL-TV, Ch. 5 in Utah, and streams everywhere on the choir's YouTube channel.
The full concert, the choir's 25th annual Christmas presentation, will be shown next year on PBS and BYUtv. (Last year's concert, featuring Broadway actor Michael Maliakel and "Downton Abbey" star Lesley Nicol, airs Christmas Eve, Tuesday, at 8:30 p.m., on KUED, PBS Utah, Ch. 7, and Saturday through Christmas Day on BYUtv.)
Mulli, 75, founded the Christian nonprofit Mully Children's Family, after he sold his property and assets in 1989 to help orphaned street children by providing food, clothing and education. Inspired by his own story -- when Mulli was 6, he was abandoned by his family to live on the streets of Kangundo, a town in Kenya -- Mulli and his family have helped more than 27,000 children in Kenya, according to the nonprofit's website.
"It is really hard to get through this story," Haysbert said of narrating Mulli's story. "But I love the feeling that comes over me when I do tell it."
Haysbert said he became emotional when he first read his script's opening lines, and he believes "everyone on the planet" should hear more stories like Mulli's.
"The more I read it, the longer I got to be with Dr. Mulli ... It was like a deck of cards being folded together and blended. It was like cream and coffee," Haysbert said. "Once it starts to mix, it's hard not to become close."
Haysbert -- who played a senator-turned-president on the TV series "24," and provides the soothing voice to Allstate Insurance commercials -- said the 21,000-seat Conference Center is "vast," but performing in it is surprisingly "intimate."
Haysbert said he's "known about [the choir] for quite some time -- especially this thing," said Haysbert, pointing to the Conference Center's Schoenstein organ.
(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) Ruthie Ann Miles talks about singing with the Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square for its annual Christmas concert, during a news conference at the Conference Center, on Friday, Dec. 20, 2024.
Miles, who won a Tony for her performance as Lady Thiang in a Broadway revival "The King and I," said that, despite its grand scale, the auditorium creates a "connection" with the audience.
"As high and as far as it goes, it's very intimate," Miles said of the Conference Center's auditorium. Miles noted that she has performed in other massive spaces -- such as the Hollywood Bowl, which seats 18,000 -- but that the Conference Center's auditorium is "like a Broadway house -- very close, very easy to connect with people."
Miles said she remembered that as a girl, she and her mother, who is Korean, would listen to chamber music -- including recordings of the Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra. Church music, she said, would become the "language in which we'd connect."
"I have admired the musicianship [of] everybody that I heard on the recordings," she said. "I could never have imagined that one day I might be on the stage and performing with them."
"With the additional gift," Miles added, "of my mother in the audience."
Miles -- who recently completed a three-month Broadway run of Ayad Akhtar's one-act play "McNeal" with Robert Downey Jr. -- said she felt "embraced" by the choir since she stepped into her first rehearsal Tuesday. The first runthrough, she said, "flowed so smoothly" because of the ensemble's "discipline" and "tonal harmony."
"Dare I say easy?" Miles said, describing the only two rehearsals. "Everyone knew what their piece of the puzzle was."
The hardest part, she said, "was walking around in heels and trying not to trip on a dress."
(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) Former Utah Gov. Michael Leavitt, the president of the Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square, talks to Broadway star Ruthie Ann Miles about performing with the choir in its annual Christmas concert, at the Conference Center, on Friday, Dec. 20, 2024.
Mack Willberg, the choir's musical director, said Miles adds "a delicious warmth" to this year's Christmas concert. But unifying the troupe as a whole, Willberg said, is like creating a "great meal."
"If the meal has all the same taste, it's not a great meal," Willberg said. "So in music, ... we strive for a unity in the program but then lots of contrast in the unity."
When the performance starts, Haysbert is among the audience in the auditorium, and his walk back to the stage may seem "like forever," he said. But the pregnant pause, he said, will give audiences "time to breathe" before the concert takes them on Mulli's emotional journey.
"When I tell the story, I'm not here," Haysbert said, gesturing to the Conference Center's large space, "I'm in Kenya."