Lisa's 2014 Celtic Christmas Show

On Saturday night I had the great pleasure of attending LIsa's 2014 Celtic Christmas Show at the Frederick J. Brown Ampitheater in lovely Peachtree City, Georgia, Lisa's adopted home. It's only a mile or so from LIsa's voice academy, which, I've heard, is doing quite well, thank you. The Fred, as it's called, is an outdoor ampitheater, and yes, in December, cold can be an issue.

The show was to start at 4, which it did, with a couple of unremarkable opening acts, but LIsa and company didn't come out until after 5. Even though it had been a remarkably warm day, by then the sun had gone down, and the temperature began dropping rapidly. By the second act, the cold was really becoming noticeable. I'm sure we all felt sorry for LIsa in her strapless, armless gown, but if bothered by the cold, the true professional that she is, she didn't let it show.

She was joined by Chloe, the new, svelte Chloe, looking better than great, and Paul from Celtic Thunder. Both contributed greatly to the show. She started with Winter Wonderland, followed by Christmas is Everywhere, written by one of her own band members. Not bad for someone who's not a professional songwriter. She and Paul did a funny and catchy Santa Baby, maybe the highlight of the show from the audience's perspective. Then there was the irreverent Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer, which LIsa described as a Southern carol. The audience loved it. My own favorite was O Holy NIght, done by the whole cast, a great rendition. Paul and Chloe did The Prayer, and Paul did Panis Angelicus, solo. I'm sure we were all hoping for Chloe to come out and make it a duet, but alas, it was not to be. I have no doubt that some in the audience thought that Paul stole what should have been Chloe's song, myself included. Scott could not help giving the audience his best Michael Flatley, with a skit straight out of Lord of the Dance. For those of us familiar with Lord of the Dance, or Feet of Flames, it was like, well, we've seen this before.... Scott didn't have quite the commanding stage presence of Flatley, but he gave it his best shot. Bravo.

At show's end, it looked like I was the only one in the audience to have brought two rose bouquets, one for LIsa and one for Chloe. Thwarted in my attempt to hand them to the ladies from the foot of the stage at the end of the show, I was left with the only option of trying to deliver them to the ladies backstage, which I was determined to do. Remarkably, no one stopped or questioned me as I made my way backstage. It appeared that the bouquets were my backstage pass. Then, in a remarkable stroke of luck, I just happened to cross paths with Chloe as I crossed a darkened corner of the parking lot. Just incredible timing; second later and I would have missed her as she was on her way out of the venue. After handing her her bouquet and a brief chat, I set out to locate LIsa. Not hard as she was nearby and surrounded by a crowd of well-wishers. As I'm sure you can imagine, after the show, everyone wants a piece of LIsa, and I was not about to be left out. I elbowed my way to her and presented her with the bouquet, for which she was very grateful, and told me that she was sure she would recognize me--has a great memory for faces, she said--but for the fact that it was so dark. Truly, it was nighttime and the area was totally unlighted. Finally, after a great show and with bouquet mission accomplished, I was ready to head out, but I felt I owed to my friends, a couple of folks whom I had met at the hotel and who also had come from out of town for the show, that Lisa was available, at least for the moment, and they had better head back pronto if they wanted to talk to her. But, unfortunately, be it for the fact that they were not bearing bouquets or whatever reason, they were stopped before they could reach LIsa. I felt terrible about this and called out to her, "Say hi to my friends" but all she could manage was the briefest of hellos to them as she was hustled out by her entourage. A pity.

More shows are planned, and tickets for the May show were offered during the intermission. Get yours while you can.