‘Forgotten Carols’ tells a different holiday tale

Friday, Dec. 14, 2001 | 9:23 a.m.

Songwriter Michael McLean had already established himself as a composer and copywriter when Deseret Books had approached him several years ago to produce an album of Christmas music.

Though McLean wasn't interested in producing an album, he had thought about writing his own Christmas songs about how the true meaning of Christmas had been lost to commercialism.

What came of this was "The Forgotten Carols," a one-man production starring McLean, which he began performing at bookstores throughout the Salt Lake City area.

Ten years later 500,000 people have seen the musical stage show, and it has been performed in five Western states while continuing to be a tradition in Idaho and Utah.

On Saturday "The Forgotten Carols" will be performed at University of Nevada, Las Vegas' Judy Bayley Theater.

The production tells the story of Constance, a cynical young nurse who has little interest in the spirit of Christmas until she is sent to treat an elderly gentlemen who goes by the name Uncle John.

To Constance, John is delusional. He claims to have been around since the birth of Christ and proceeds to share stories of Christmas day as it occurred for those who were living at the time, including the Biblical innkeeper who gave Joseph and Mary shelter in his stable, a shepherd who missed the event because he was sleeping and a woman who held the baby Jesus for Mary.

Though Constance thinks he's surely ill, as John sings all of these parables, he's also relating to things that Constance is struggling with in her own life, Laurel Christensen, producer of "The Forgotten Carols," said.

"In the end she is just overcome by the magic of all he's been telling her," Christensen said.

But, she added, "Just when you think you've figured out the story, there's a little bit of a surprise ending when you find out who Uncle John really is."

The stories are told in dialogue and song. John (played by McLean) narrates the production, sings and talks with the audience. Constance will be portrayed by Katie Thompson. The local choir Las Vegas LDS Institute Choir will also be part of the production. Contemporary-Christian boy band Jericho Road will open the show.

"We do 26 shows in five different states from the Friday after Thanksgiving until the Saturday before Christmas," Christensen said.

The show came to Las Vegas six or seven years ago, she said. But this is the first time that the entire production touring company will stop in Las Vegas.

The production has a different twist than most Christmas productions, Tom Haraldsen, publicist for Desert Book, said.

"They're nothing like the traditional Christmas songs we know and have grown up with," he said.