Friday, December 17, 2004 Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Jingle Bell Rock

Trans-Siberian Orchestra and Rio 'Holiday Show in the Sky' are among the less traditional holiday events

John O'Neill's Trans-Siberian Orchestra has evolved from concept albums into a rocking Christmas tour that visits Las Vegas on Saturday. Jensen Depue poses with Debbie Reed at the Rio. The hotel's "Show in the Sky" ends with a chance to take a picture with a Chippendales dancer. Photo by John Locher.

Christmas means different things to different people, and this weekend it can mean anything from an Andy Williams ballad to a heavy-metal Christmas carol to showgirls in two-piece Santa bikinis.

The latter may be the most uniquely Las Vegas, thanks to a retooled "Holiday Show in the Sky" replacing the usual show in the Rio's Masquerade Village.

Other local traditions include the return of Susan Anton's Christmas concerts to the Suncoast today and Sunday and the fifth "Honky-Tonk Angels" holiday show at the Gold Coast.

But the weekend also brings two big-venue tours: "The Andy Williams Christmas Show" to the Orleans Arena and Trans-Siberian Orchestra to the Aladdin's theater, both Saturday night.

It's the fourth annual visit by the Trans-Siberian Orchestra, showcasing the three Christmas-themed "rock operas" of founder Paul O'Neill.

Trans-Siberian originated with the track "Christmas Eve (Sarajevo 12/24)," a bombastic reworking of "The Carol of the Bells" that O'Neill first created for the progressive-metal band Savatage.

Finding his producer's role with the band growing larger but more frustrating -- "With a regular rock band, you're limited to one, or if you're very lucky, two singers," he says -- O'Neill created the Trans-Siberian Orchestra in 1996 as a studio project with no restrictions.

"I wanted multiple lead singers and to mix all type of styles to give the music more impact," he says. "The first thing we do is write the story, then we match the music to the story."

It may not be as warm and cozy as Williams' "Happy Holidays," but the speed-talking composer says he is sentimental at heart.

The "Sarajevo" track was inspired by the story of a cellist who defied his city's bombing by playing solos each night in a town square, "calmly and serenely playing these timeless melodies that are wafting out across No Man's Land, to both sides of the conflict equally."

"I've always been fascinated by Christmas," O'Neill says. "I've always been fascinated by the power of this day that operates on the most intimate personal levels -- the way people treat their neighbors, their family members, complete strangers -- but also operates on the level of how nation-states treat each other. To me, that was such a fascinating thing I didn't think I could capture it in just one rock opera."

Hence, a Christmas trilogy. The first album, "Christmas Eve & Other Stories," is about how "Christmas has a similar effect all over the world." The second, "The Christmas Attic," addresses the holiday's timelessness. And the new one, "The Lost Christmas Eve," is "basically about how it opens doors to correct wrongs."

The touring band contracts local orchestral musicians in each city to present a musical force of 29, with four singers, spoken narration, lasers and smoke machines.

"If you look at it on paper, it's kind of loopy. But it has worked," O'Neill says. "Last year, we only toured six weeks and we were the 38th biggest touring band in the world."

The closest classic-rock comparison might be the Alan Parsons Project, a big-selling studio act that never figured out how to tour in its heyday. O'Neill says Parsons caught a Trans-Siberian concert and later told him, "You're doing what I always wanted to do."

O'Neill replied, "You made the map. We just followed it through the jungle."

Here's a list of other Christmas-themed shows at valley hotels:

• "Andy Williams Christmas Show" -- Williams opened the original Caesars Palace showroom in 1966 and returned last year as a guest for Celine Dion's opening in the hotel's new Colosseum. But if you wanted to hear him sing, you had to go to Branson, Mo.

No guest stars are billed with the 76-year-old crooner who put "Happy Holidays" onto many a Christmas compilation album. But promoters say to expect a variety format, complete with a local school choir, that's in keeping with both Branson tradition and Williams' nostalgic TV work in the '60s.

Williams performs at 8 p.m. Saturday in the Orleans Arena, 4500 W. Tropicana Ave. Tickets are $43.50-$64; call 284-7777.

• "Susan Anton Celebrates Christmas" -- Returning for a second year, Anton covers the bases, but also veers off the beaten path to offer more personal selections, such as Beth Nielsen Chapman's "Years" or John Lennon's "Imagine."

Those are the songs that can "provoke those better senses of us as people," she noted last year.

Shows are at 7:30 p.m. today through Sunday in the Suncoast Showroom, 9090 Alta Drive. Tickets are $38.50-$55; call 636-7075.

• "Honky-Tonk Angels Holiday Show" -- This is the Gold Coast swan song for the country tribute that has switched cowboy hats for Santa hats the past four Christmas seasons. The regular "Angels" show already has departed to make room for the return of "Forever Plaid." It comes back for a holiday encore, however, because of its proven ability to turn a typically slow stretch of December into "two of their biggest weeks of the year," says producer and co-star Sharon Haynes.

Magician Bill McRea joins Haynes, Lori Legacy and Corrie Sachs for the usual impressions of Patsy Cline, Dolly Parton and Reba McEntire. The holiday show also adds a noncostumed acoustic segment with the three singing as a trio. "That's our favorite part," Haynes says.

Shows are at 8 p.m. Wednesdays through Sundays through Dec. 30 in the Gold Coast Showroom, 4000 W. Flamingo Road. Tickets are $29.95; call 367-7111.

• "The Stars Are Out Tonight" -- Olympic skaters are featured in an outdoor ice review. Shows are at 7:30 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays through Jan. 16 at Caesars Palace, 3570 Las Vegas Blvd. South. Tickets are $25-$50; call 731-7110.

• "Show in the Sky Christmas Celebration" -- The Santa skirts and halters are featured in the Masquerade Village show through Christmas day at the Rio, 3700 W. Flamingo Road. The free performances at 4, 6, 8 and 10 p.m. end with a chance to have a photo-op with a Chippendales dancer. Kinda warms your heart, doesn't it?