Mannheim Steamroller

No better Christmas music around than Mannheim Steamroller.

Songs were great especially the ones that were more rock and roll. The musicians are amazing with what they all play and how many different instruments they play. The back ground scenes were just beautiful and the light show fantastic. Totally put me in the mood for the Holidays.

Manheim Steamroller in concert was more than I expected it to be. To be honest, I only went because my wife wanted to go. But I am so gald I did. The experience was amazing. The graphics was a great addition to the music and really pulled you in.

The worst thing I can say about this concert is that it was not long enough for me. The music was, of course, what we were there to hear, but the video enhancements made the show more enjoyable. Like opening a Christmas card from a friend...

It's hard to imagine that they have been around for 25+ years! Often live events don't have the same 'sound' as their recorded material, but in this case, it's a very close second. What a wonderful venue to appear in, as well. The acoutics lent a benefit to the overall performance and the music, while loud, was not at an obnoxious level as some groups have done in the past. If you like Mannheim's music, this is a performance you really don't want to miss.

Overall, I enjoyed the concert. The music was excellent. My issue was more with the special effects. With todays' technology, the effects that were used could have been used in 1999. I think they could take a step forward and employ something more. Also, went to see them last year and was disappointed that I believe it was the exact same concert. For the money, I would like to see something a little different. I realize they are not writing new music, but some change would be welcome. I would say that the venue of the Hershey Theatre is fabulous. There is not a bad seat in the house.

Same show we saw last year,I heard many neg comments.

First time seeing Mannheim Steamroller live and it was GREAT!

Good show . . . all the Christmas favorites. A relaxing trip down memory lane.

This is the third time I've seen MHS in concert. The show is pretty consistent year to year, with few changes in the songs and presentation. Still, if you love MHS, you'll love the show. Lots of lights, smoke, and video, as well as great music.

Mannheim Steamroller was fairly good. I couldn't hear all the instruments, maybe due to the location of my seat. The effects were okay but some of them seemed completely unrelated to Christmas. The seats were a little uncomfortable.

The sounds of Christmas are always better when performed by Mannheim Steamroller. Great show.

As always, Mannheim Steamroller delivered as promised and as we all have come to expect from them.

Had never heard Mannheim Steamroller live before and it was an awesome experience. I especially loved their teaming with NASA on the space program. The pictures and music are a wonderful reflection of what the U.S.A, accomplished. We need to become a country that accepts challenges again.

Going to see Mannheim Steamroller was an evening to remember. Watching the band performing multiple instruments was amazing.

Excellent show! Enjoyed meeting the musicians of Mannheim Steamroller afterwards.

Good xmas concert. If you enjoy the classic sounds of the season, one should go. However, does seem a little dated. The background scenes were very dated, needs new scenery etc. You could see their passion as they played. Would go at least once.

Mannheim Steamroller was absolutely FANTASTIC!! Shout out to Rande-FOH

First time seeing Manheim Steamroller in person and my wife and I were not disappointed!! Better than expected!!

Awesome concert, great way to begin the Christmas season, really put me in the seasonal mood.

Great ! Have some of their albums, but the live concert was amazing to see and hear. A wonderful way to start the holidays.

Beautiful performance! Even tho they ve done this show hundreds of times, they still had such great enthusiasm and appeared to love what they were doing. I can t wait until they come back to Chattanooga again!

The music was good, but the visual effects are very dated! It was painful to watch. Needs new material shown in current visual formats.

The show was terrific and the sound was fantastic ! I loved the way the group interacted with each other and really seemed to love what they were doing! I loved all of the performers but was really impressed with Roxanne Layton and all the different instruments she played! I bought the new CD Exotic Spaces and have been playing it non stop since the show! I can't wait for the next show and would love to make this a holiday tradition!

I ve been listening to Mannheim Steamroller recordings for 35+ years, so it was such a treat to finally see how it all comes together! It was also fun to see some of our local symphony musicians on stage in the MS orchestra. Great lighting effects too!

Manheim Steamroller was awesome as usual. Only down side was that they played a couple too many non-Christmas sings. Otherwise they were near perfect.

This was a great show! We highly recommend seeing this for Christmas!

The concert begins, the unfolding of a beautiful and upbeat Christmas song accompanied by a video montage of self serving clips of MS on different tv shows through the years....utterly narcissistic and absolutely unfitting to the Christmas music before us. Follwing this is a brief advertisement from Chip Davis telling us we can buy his cd's in the lobby.This sets the tone for the bizarre concert ahead. Strange and bizarre video clips accompany the music, videos poorly made and that serve only to distract from the music. A horse running through the (non winter) forest and people waving from atop a castle accompany well known Christmas tunes. Dolphins, eagles, flute playing little boys, a woman bobbing for apples while blindfolded, a cartoon "steamroller" dancing with girls at a prom, random flights of fancy all distracting from the musicians in front of us. Feeling absolutely frustrated with the video onslaught, I had to look away so that I could try to enjoy the music. At which point my husband made a statement that could only make sense of what we were watching, he said that perhaps the person in charge of the design is mentally ill....crazy. It was only with this thought that it all made sense and I could watch the videos with a sense of sadness. At this point I truly felt sad for the talented musicians that had to perform amongst such chaos. And, that is exactly what this concert was....chaos.

I had been to a Mannheim Steamroller concert a number of years ago and was very much looking forward to seeing them again and they did not disappoint. As usual the arrangements of the classic Christmas Music was excellent. It was a very enjoyable evening of well arranged and well performed music for the Christmas season. I look forward to see them in concert again.

Very excited to see Mannheim since we were taking a number of guests who had never heard them. Imagine our disappointment to discover that we could have simply given them the CD and they would have heard exactly what they heard in concert. Yes the drummer was actually playing but a number of the instruments heard in the concert and all of the vocals were pre-recorded since there was no one onstage either playing or singing those parts. Very embarrassed to have talked them up, spend lots of money to buy excellent seats and then get the Milli Vanilli experience. I would have rather heard an actual vocalist or a different song list and known that it wasn't the instrumental version of lip synching.

I was very disappointed in the overall production of this event. . When you pay for a show I expect to see the whole show. The light rigging was completely interfered with the view to the overhead screen. . No pictures are allowed to be taken inside the theater but no signs are posted saying such.. we were warned that if any more pictures were taken that we would be escorted out. Overall this was not the first time that MS played at the Paramount Theater and so I feel some one in the production crew should have checked that the show could be seen by all the seats in the house. Seriously disappointed!

First time seeing Mannheim Steamroller. Very entertaining and enjoyable. Only downside was our seats. They were in the mezzanine and the group had a movie screen behind them showing videos during several pieces and the top of the screen was blocked by the light bars. Additionally, got hit in the eye several times by the searchlights that were used during certain pieces. The band was EXCELLENT---seats not so much. We bought all 3 of their CDs they had available so we can continue to enjoy all the talent in this group.

First of all, let me state that I love Mannheim Steamroller. The show was very boring. The music was exactly like the CDs which is fine, but there was virtually no interaction with the audience. They blew some snow on the lower audience a few times, but it was pretty lame. There were videos that were played above the band and they were very strange. I forced myself not to look at them so I didn't keep those images in my head and associate them with the music. Also, the drummer's one drum - I think it was a snare drum - was significantly louder than the other drums and was used consistently throughout the performance which made for a very large headache.

I always thought the CDs were fantastic and I never really thought much about going to see them live. How could it be better..... but it was!

THE LEAD INSTRUMENTALISTS WERE FANTASTIC - EACH PLAYING 4 OR 5 INSTRUMENTS. ACOUSTICS IN THE THEATRE WERE SUPERB. CAN'T SAY ENOUGH ABOUT THE DRUMMER - EVEN THOUGH THEY SHOWED PICTURES ON A BIG SCREEN BEHIND THE ORCHESTRA, WE WERE FOCUSED ON THE SKILLS OF THE LEAD DRUMMMER. ***** ONE BIG DISAPPOINMENT : WE WERE FORTUNEATE TO SEE MANNHEIM STEAMROLLER A NUMBER OF YEARS AGO AT THE GIANT CENTER IN HERSHEY, BEFORE THEY SPLIT THE GROUP APART TO DO EAST AND WEST COAST ROAD SHOWS. THEY HAVE REMOVED THE BRASS SECTION, AND WE FEEL THE SHOW LOST A LOT BECAUSE OF THAT.

Highly recommended for a Christmas season experience. Sorry Chip Davis doesn't tour anymore. Drummer was fantastic.

as always concerts at the Hershey Theater are outstanding and enjoyed

Video screen and snow added a fun dimention. Amazing amount of sound from only 14 musicians. Fun, fun, fun!

This is he third consecutive year my wife and I have attended a Manheim Steamroller concert. The uniqueness of the Christmas arrangements and the talent is unbeatable. The instruments they use are unparalleled. they usually are at the tables in the lobby for autographs when you get a CD after the program.

Mannheim Steamroller is a MUST do concert. The sound is a joy and a perfect way to help celebrate the Christmas season. The light show and video productions this year were the best --most integrated, most complementary to the music-- that I've seen (but sometimes I just wanted to focus only on the music). Mannheim Steamroller never fails to delight. I thoroughly enjoyed the event!

This is what my father used to say for an average performance. I thought the music was excellent (go Chip!) and all the classics were there but the passion of the performers wasn't evident. Yes, it's hard to do it on the road night after night, but it's what we are paying for and why they are there to 'perform'. The drummer was everything that he should have been, and more. Precise, entertaining and obviously in the moment. Yay for him! The backup video was not interesting and frequently distracting. Shapeless blobs of color reminded me of psychedelic movies from the 60's. WHen there were real winter scenes, they were rough paintings like one would see on a credit card. The Medievil fiest references were lost on me in the videos. I continuous snow/rain/ scene would have focused us back on the performance rather than 'what IS that video?" talk. SOlid B or better.

Outstanding show from the opening song to the finish. If you have never seen them do yourself a favor and treat yourself.

The Mannheim Steamroller Christmas concert was even better than I had hoped for. These gifted musicians played all of the songs that I have been listening to for many years. They were a joy to watch, especially the drummer. Both my husband and I have musical backgrounds and we had a blast trying to figure out where some of the sounds were coming from and then had friendly arguments about our opinions on the way home.

M. Steamroller was everything I expected! I have all of their Christmas CD's. I honestly don't know how they could improve!!

The music was as good as ever, natch. But, unless the visuals and light effects were supposed to be retro and campy, they were distracting and amateurish. Sad , sad, sad. What was with chunky animal costumed skaters photographed in near absent light? I was appalled. They need a new computer light person capable of laser works, imaging, and linking those to music. Still, Manheim's music makes my 70 year old heart sing. I just need to hook them up with some modern tekkie fans.

The Mannheim Steamrollers are awsome and they are a must see for me everytime they come to my area. I like them better than the Trans-Syberian Orchestra.

We enjoyed another evening with the Mannheim Steamroller at the Hershey Theatre for the Christmas Tour.

Music average throghout. Graphics/videos awful - 40 yearsout of date.

Fantastic Multi-Media show! Venue was wonderful, not a bad seat in the house... For a small venue,the sound was perfect, it was not too loud and was crystal clear. If you haven't seen them, I highly recommend this show!

This was the second time we went to a concert and it only gets better ,music selection was great and the noise level wasn't blowing you out of your seat.

The show was great!! I look forward to going again next year.

Musicianship is tops. Will give new appreciation when listening to their tapes. Beautiful theatre, too.

Loved it as usual! 4th or 5th time that I have seen them. I attended with 3 people that have never seen Mannheim Steamroller and they loved the show as well!

Great concert! This was my first time at the Sands Event Center.

This had to be one of the best concerts I have ever been to. The sound coming off that stage was just unbelieveable. It was truely hard to believe that so few people could make such a complete sound.

Absolutely love their music. The Sands Bethlehem Event Center was a great venue. A smaller hall without all the nosebleed seats. Seats were comfortable and decently spaced. Sound was great and view was great.

This is our third time and they were still amazing

Mannheim was fantastic. Renditions were true to form and not too loud. We saw TSO the week before and they wer so loud as to be unrecognizable.

I expected a lot better. They play a video in the background that looks like it was done by a high school kid and the images did not match the music. Many people left after the intermission. Save your money and just buy the CD.

The concert was very entertaining. If you are looking for good music this is a concert for you. If you are looking for a great stage show not so much. The scenes in the video backdrop were a little weird and somewhat distracting at times. The Sands Event Center in Bethlehem, PA is a wonderful venue. Not a bad seat in the house and highly recommended.

I had seen Mannheim Steamroller about 5 years ago at the State Theatre in Easton and they were really good. We saw them this year at the Sands Event Center in Bethlehem. The music was just as amazing. Unfortunately the event center was very frustrating. It took us forever to get into the center. There was a huge bottleneck for people to get wristbands put on. There were only four lines. First set was somewhat slow, almost put me to sleep. Second set much livelier.

The show was great. Mannheim Steamroller always puts on a phenomenal show! Missing an opening act!

I only need one word to review the show - OUTSTANDING!!!. The graphics, ( video) used with the performance added to the enitre Steamroller concept. A very enjoyable evening.

Sorry to say I was willing to leave after the first two pieces of music. These people have great talent but the musical arrangements left one asking is volume all you've got Chip? By the time I got off my numb rear end my first impression had not changed. Unless you know this group and like 'em save your money and stay home!

Their Christmas music has been a part of our family's Christmas memories for over 20 years. Going to their concert in Bethlehem, PA was the best concert I have ever attended. Many time you listen to a CD only to be disappointed with the live performance. Not in this case. Their music was studio quality and if you closed your eyes you would think you were in the comfort of your home, listening to the CD version. The music and their performance was top quality, and I am planning to make this an annual event for my wife and I.

Although I'm not into the heavily electronic sound I liked the music. The thing that killed it for me were the amateurist videos that they showed with the music. Looked like a high school assignment in most cases. Just put on a light show and forget the chinsey videos. Really cheapened the whole thing. Let the music tell the story don't use cheesy videos to try and help. Too many of the songs repeated the intro over and over again and never got into the meat of the song which could have been fabulous. You just sat there waiting to really get into the whole song and it never happened.

The show was excellent! The Sands Event Center leaves a bit to be desired.

I really thought I was going to see Chip Davis and the original Steamrollers. I did not know that there are two bands traveling the show circuit. The group did have several of the original members and all were very talented. I especially liked the drummer's performance. I thought the auditorium seating left a lot to be improved upon. The "gym" chairs were not very comfortable.

The music was great, however the video's they show are just outdated and terrible. It would have been perfect to just have a few Christmas trees in the background so you could simply enjoy the music. The tacky video's had nothing to do with Christmas and ruined the show.

The music was ok...the orchestra was brilliant, but the main artists seemed to be a little off tune. I could have done without the 80s style music videos, and the 15 minutes of pictures of album covers, plugs for their other shows, and a video montage of how they are a big deal, and all the news and tv shows they have been on. It was just bad. Would not recommend to anyone.

Slow, pic quality poor, song selection poor, little interaction between performers and audience. Ho mum experience.

My son and I had a great time at the Mannheim show in Atlanta, GA. The music is amazing to hear and see live. I would go see them again tomorrow if they were in town again. The set list was great and the audience was very pleased. I can't overstate how amazing it is to hear the music live by such talented musicians. Long live Mannheim Steamroller! They are the soundtrack to the holidays.

I saw MS in Philadelphia in 2005. It was such a wonderful experience! My husband had turned me onto them and was a long term fan. Then MS came to State Theater in Easton and now that Chip is hardly on the road, the show is losing its luster. The new players are good, but lack in originality. The videos are becoming stale, we've seen them already more than two or three times. For the money, I would rather stay home with popcorn & play the music for Christmas. It is time for the show to revamp or just let it retire and become a fond memory. I know they are coming to our area again soon at a new venue, but I am not sold.

I have been an enormous fan of Mannheim Steamroller (MS) for decades since 1980 and have almost every Christmas CD they have produced, almost all of the Fresh Aire series and many others by this group and have been an equally huge fan of Chip Davis or "C.W. McCall" as was his mid-70s stage name. I have 14 of their CDs. I have attended three live MS concerts, two in Billings, Montana and one in Great Falls, Montana. The last concert in Great Falls-Nov. 15, 2011, was a bitter and distasteful disappointment. I drove four hours on a cold, snowy, afternoon from Billings to Great Falls through the secondary highways in central Montana to attend, leaving work early. The tickets were $54.00 per person-not cheap by my standards. With great expectation and the audience clearly starved for a true live MS concert, imagine my deflated and ripped-off feeling when I quickly realized after the first song concluded that the music was not live but actually pre-recorded with the "musicians" pantomiming-the entire show was "mimed" and "lip-synced" with the players not actually playing live. Some of the music we heard could not have been produced by the instruments on stage. How do I know this? Well, I have played the piano and violin for 45 years, played in high school and college symphonies and can easily recognize when someone is faking. The young Japanese electric violin player at the MS Great Falls Civic Center concert was clearly faking it along with the other musicians. He often ended his bowing before the violin music stopped or began his bowing before the violin music started. The concert producers attempted to disguise this canned/pre-recorded music charade by dimming the lights to near darkness as each song concluded and then did not raise the lights again until the next song had already started. This prevented the casual observer from noticing that the "musicians" were ending their pantomiming before the music stopped and were often visually out of sync with each other-ending their "playing" randomly and awkwardly. They rarely looked at each other as you must do in a live concert-they all just did their own thing. The musicians made periodic sweeping gestures and gesticulations as they "played" apparently attempting to convince the audience they were actually playing live. This made the charade very humorous at times as the "concert" progressed before me. There was no tuning or warm ups by the musicians where they make occasional instrument sound checks before another song like you almost always see and hear at truly live concerts. After I recovered from my anger over the faked concert unfolding before a packed audience, I told my significant other sitting next to me and then she easily began to notice what I was seeing. The two people next to us overheard me and asked what I was observing. After telling them what to look for, they were horrified as they also began to notice. After intermission, our disappointment and shock digressed into a dark humor as the four of us simply chuckled and enjoyed the charade for what it was-an old fashioned scam. We thought about requesting a refund and an apology from the City of Great Falls and MS but what would be the point? Great Falls didn t know either and was equally victimized by the MS scam. MS would likely deny the scam and say something murky such as "some" of the music was pre-recorded. As the concert concluded I began to realize that MS wouldn't send even their "B" or "C" teams to the hinterlands Montana and actually play live. MS now has what they call their "west coast" and "east coast" ensembles and apparently Chip Davis now only attends very special concerts because of his health. The first MS concert in Billings I attended about 11 years ago he was there, actually playing live along with the Berkeys. All three were absent from this last concert. The bottom line is MS could simply be honest, advise fans that the original musicians would not attend and also advise that the concert would not be live but would be mostly if not totally "augmented" by prerecorded tracks. I am reminded of the old saying "fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice shame on me". I don't intend to shame myself. I have attended my last MS "concert" and have purchased my last MS cd. It's too bad that MS/Chip Davis would treat their loyal fans this way and tarnish and deteriorate their wonderful, creative music just for more money and out of laziness. If you see a MS "concert" advertised for a venue near you, save your money, don't fall for the scam and if you must, buy one of their CDs instead and listen at home with your friends and significant others. At least doing that you'll know what you are getting and you won't set yourself up for complete disappointment. Shame on you MS/Chip Davis. Apologize to your loyal fans and do live concerts again!

Awesome show! Would recommend it for any age. We went with 3 generations including teenagers. Show was loved by all!

We've gone to see Mannheim Steamroller every time they're in our vicinity -even though this wasn't the best concert we've seen from them, it's still miles ahead of other Christmas concerts! I think the troupe was a little tired from being on the road - that's all - the second half was excellent!

My wife and I took four of our children to the Christmas concert the weekend before Christmas. The show was excellent and exceeded very high pre-show expectations.

THE SOUND WAS JUST LOUD ENOUGH TO ENJOY WITHOUT BLASTING YOU OUT OF YOU SEAT. THE LIGHTING WAS ALSO VERY WELL DONE AS WELL AS THE VIDEO SHOWN BEHING THE ORCHESTRA. THE LENGHTH OF THE CONCERT WAS JUST RIGHT, NOT TOO LONG AND NOT TOO SHORT, 2 HOURS. WITH ONE BREAK IN THE MIDDLE, IT WAS JUST LONG ENOUGH FOR A BATHROOM OR BEVERAGE BREAK WITHOUT TOO MUCH OF A DELAY. A THUROUGHLY ENJOYING EXPERIENCE.

I took my mother to see Mannheim Steamroller this past Sunday for the evening show. While I truly love the holiday music of Mannheim Steamroller, I was a bit disappointed with the light and video show that went along with the music. The previews on TV of the show portrayed a wonderful and exciting light show. But what we got was a bad video and some colored flashlights! And what made matters worse was on their video they showed other concerts with better light shows. It was good to hear but not a great site to see...I was a bit sad with the show.

The show was good. This is the third time we have seen the Mannheim Steamroller, and it seems like the music was not as sharp as before, which took away from the show. Of course we did miss Chip.

Something for everyone, puts ypu in mood for Christmas. I was impressed that Steam Roller has been going on for all theses years I never knew.

Took my daughter who has always dreamt of seeing them live. The light show was great. The simultaneous video show was very entertaining - great costuming! Got a kick out of the "Hey Chip, how about playing something we can dance to!" bit. :o) The music was just amazing. It was so thrilling to see the group in action, to see how they produced all the wonderful sounds, to watch them play all of our favorites. The three encores were an extra bonus! My daughter was just ecstatic; we both smiled all the way home. What a treat and privilege. Thank You Chip Davis!

They were awesome! The show was in a beautiful venue and the sound was fantastic! They really get you in the spirit of the season! Thanks for coming to the Cleveland area.

Amazing show by Mannheim Steamroller. They gave me back my Christmas spirit!

If you are looking for a TSO-like experience, this isn't it. There won't be hard rock, fire, heat, lasers, or strobe lights. What there will be is a relaxing seasonal atmosphere with fantastic holiday music anyone in the family old enough to sit still for two hours plus will enjoy.

The video shown as a background was distracting; the special effects were okay and preferred them over the video clips. Nothing exciting about the performance. Don't bother seeing them live...just listen to the music on a DVD or iTunes.

Mannheim Steamroller gave an excellent concert. The musicians were unbelievably talented, with some playing multiple instruments. The music, of course, was the main entertainment, but the accompanying videos were very enjoyable. An evening well spent....

Very good. Some of the background videos seemed a bit old and out of date though. Perfect holiday event.

We really enjoyed ourselves. They played a mix of songs that I did and didn't know. They had video playing with their music which was well done and timed to the music. The Venue was very nice. First time to EJ Thomas Hall.

The music was great, but the show wasn't even close to being good. I was completely bored and disappointed with the multimedia visual presentation and the light show. Often the lights were directed into the upper seating section blinding the audience. I found myself as did my wife watching the musicians perform, and that wasn't great either. I've seen far better performances by cover bands at the Canal Lock summer events. Mannheim has no stage presence whatsoever. They do their best work in a studio. My advice to anyone is don't buy tickets to see Mannheim because your just wasting good money. Instead just go to Itunes & download their music. Then sit back in a comfy chair by the fireplace at home with a good glass of wine and enjoy the music of Mannheim Steamroller. I should say the traffic control situation was atrocious. I don't think I'll pay to see another event at EJ .

When the opening refrain is quickly followed by a pitch to go buy their CDs in the lobby it sets a very bad tone. I expected a SHOW from Mannhein Steamroller but instead a lackluster performance highlighted by bizarre videos on a rear projection screen is what I got. For some reason they also directed bright spotlights into the audience which made it difficult to actually see those videos. The sound was poor - probably due to the portable sound system .

I was thrilled when my seats were upgraded to pit level. Watching their faces and playfulness was fun, the pianist from Utah was a blast to watch. The overall show didn't have the excitement i expected, nor was the music. I wouldn't pay 1/3 what i did for the upper level seats to watch them again. Buy the cd, much better than live

The music was great, once it got started. Was disappointed with the beginning and the end. Could have done without the commercials at the beginning and end, I knew their CD's were available in the lobby. Also the speech by the founder was not necessary. The videos in the background were kind of cute but distracted from the music.

Music was beautiful but lack of showmanship and out-dated videos made this a very poor experience overall. The opening number accompanied by pictures of CD covers and the closing set to promo pieces from the Leno Show, Today Show, etc. were like watching commercials. Tossing a feather at each other was supposed to be entertaining..........? Concert needs a major overhaul.

From the very beginning to the end there was so much to experience. It was hard to decide whether to just listen to the music, watch what was happening on the big screen, watch the performers or watch the fantastic light show. A good mix of music. Everything just kept going. Packed full of action. Lots of good memories.

A wonderful way to celebrate the Holiday Season. I would recommend this show to anyone who appreciates the wonder of the Christmas Season. Beautifully done!

Excellent show....go see it for sure. Not much else to say....

Every level of the performance was entertaining. Skilled musicians paired with skilled staging in a venue which enhanced both aspects. All the Christmas favorites were there but with new arrangements enriched with visuals and story lines. Sometimes explosive and other times tender, it was a performance the whole family could enjoy.

The arrangements were well done. Not like ordinary orchestras. Use of unusual instruments, like the penny whistle, added nice sounds to the music that has been overdone on the radio. The videos may have been good for the children, but I did not need them.

As usual, the Mannheim's performance was outstanding.