’Twas the weeks before Christmas in the city of Vegas/ Where one Barry Manilow found it quite advantageous/ To perform his annual holiday show/ At the Westgate Las Vegas (Elvis once played there, you know),
The stockings were hung by the stagehands with care/ Preparing for Fanilows who soon would be there/ Audiences nestled all snug in their seats/ Taking photos for Instagram, TikTok and tweets.
The singers were warmed up, the band well-rehearsed/ Everyone knew every chorus, introduction and verse/ Then all through the theater there arose such a clamor/ Manilow took the stage in his affable manner/ He proceeded to welcome his guests with a song/ And the Very Barry Christmas extravaganza was on.
Fanilows know Manilow loves Christmas. He’s starred in television specials, recorded multiple albums of holiday music and last year released a cover of Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You.” Manilow’s family did not actually deck the halls in December while he was growing up, but he could relate to good tidings and great joy.
Manilow has released three Christmas albums since 1990. The first, Because It’s Christmas, was the best-selling holiday album of that year and eventually went platinum. He conjures chestnuts roasting on an open fire on opening track “The Christmas Song” and enlists vocal trio Expose to evoke The Andrews Sisters in a swinging version of “Jingle Bells.”
“Silent Night,” “The First Noël,” “Joy to the World” and Handel’s “Messiah” get the Manilow treatment, some in a traditional manner and others as part of medleys blended with original compositions and jazzy atmosphere. It was a stylistic direction he would explore further with 2007’s In the Swing of Christmas, which kicks off with an a cappella version of “Silver Bells” replete with stirring vocal harmonies.
For a traditional collection of carols where Manilow’s voice is front and center from beginning to end, 2002’s A Christmas Gift of Love is an excellent option. Opening with a nostalgia-producing “Winter Wonderland,” Manilow puts maximum exuberance into a “Happy Holiday/White Christmas” arrangement followed by a horn-enhanced “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town” and “(There’s No Place Like) Home for the Holidays.”
Manilow kicked off 2023 seasonal shows with “Happy Holiday/White Christmas” and proceeded to mix his hits with Christmas favorites such as “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,” “Jingle Bells” and “My Favorite Things.” One show at the Westgate Las Vegas became an NBC television special last year that was broadcast Dec. 11.
Whether the special is made available for streaming this year remains to be seen, but Manilow will perform his special sets at the International Theater through Dec. 14. Meanwhile his latest album, a re-release of 1982’s Barry Live in Britain, consists of songs recorded at London’s Royal Albert Hall.
Manilow played the last show of his final European tour at the London Palladium June 9. He has no plans to stop performing at his Vegas residency, so Fanilows can look forward to being all together for many holidays to come, and have themselves a Very Barry Christmas now.
Westgate Las Vegas, 5+. westgateresorts.com
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