Santa's secret exposed by Tesoro in Christmas show
The beautiful Newtown House Hotel on Hayling Island was the venue for an evening of festive music for all the family, hosted by Tesoro, an easy listening and classical crossover duo of tenor Simon Long and soprano Karen Barnett accompanied by the Fine Voice chorus
For the large audience they were presented with a mix of modern, traditional and singalong music plus a special guest appearance with his two helpers, making sure the audence were fully involved the whole near two hours
The venue for the music event was fantastic, with huge thanks due to events co-ordinator Sarah Henderson and her team for their energy and generosity in supporting the evening. The ballroom was beautifully decorated, there was mulled wine and mince pies for the audience, a perfect setting
The first half set the tone with Simon opening with It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas followed by chorus songs (All Bells in Paradise, My Favourite Time of Year, Do You Hear What I Hear, Once Upon a December and There is Faint Music), all showcasing Fine Voice students and providing lesser known songs to the audience, but mixed with two singalong medleys (including songs by Slade, Shaky Stevens and Dean Martin), then better known such as 12 Days of Christmas (with great actions from the audience), Deck the Halls and We Three Kings (five actually) plus carols such as Away in a Manger and Once In Royal David's City
After a short interval the VIP arrived, it was Santa, giving out chocolates to the audience but then interviewed by Karen, telling everyone that he had been on a diet all year but had a bit of a failing for Christmas puddings as all of his family each made a different one (shades of Vicar of Dibley?). To explain two chefs appeared, to sing with the chorus about the making of said puddings. So, Santa’s secret is out
The second half was a similar mix to the first, Baby it's Cold Outside (Tesoro), different songs such as the Ukrainian (thankfully in English) Carol of the Bells, traditional songs like God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen, Ding Dong Merrily on High and Mary’s Boy Child
The evening then climaxed with poignant and tear-jerking (as said by Sarah) songs, Halellujah, Silent Night, Peace on Earth/Drummer Boy, White Christmas and the powerful O Holy Night (these including some excellent solo vocals by Simon and Karen)
The encore was Hark the Herald Angels Sing, to rapturous applause from the audience. Sarah said “Newtown House Hotel thrives on bringing people and communities together with evenings such as this”
For more details please go to https://newtownhouse.co.uk/contact/, www.tesoroduo.co.uk and www.finevoice.co.uk