“Every year is different,” said Brad Moranz, one half of the husband-wife duo who produce the annual Charleston Christmas Special at the Charleston Music Hall. “If you think you’ve seen it, you haven’t. You may have seen some version of it in whatever year you happened to see it, but it’s different every year. I can promise that.”
The show returns to Charleston Music Hall for its 28th season and features a cast of 28 singers, dancers and musicians, including the Moranzes.
Brad and Jennifer Moranz first came to Charleston in 1995 to perform at the Music Hall. A few years later, they inherited the Charleston Christmas Special from Calvin Gilmore, a South Carolina musician known for owning the Carolina Opry in Myrtle Beach.
“Calvin put us in charge of everything creative … and now here we are,” Brad Moranz said. “Not only creating, directing, choreographing the show, we’re also in it, and living in Charleston. … We love this theater. We love what we’re doing.”
Moranz said the inspiration for the variety-style show comes from the media he and his wife watched as kids. “Jenny and I are of that generation when television variety shows were designed for an entire family to be able to sit and watch and experience together. There will be something in there that, whether it’s a 6-year-old or a 90-year-old, that they would all share the same experience.”
New show with holiday classics
Moranz admits he and his wife listen to Christmas music year-round. The duo starts to hone in on the show in the summer and find the perfect songs, whether that be something they’ve never heard before or a new spin on an old favorite.
“Christmas is Christmas, you know, and the songs are the songs, but it’s kind of amazing how many different ways you can do songs from a style standpoint,” he said.
The duo reinterpret songs across genres, from swing and big-band to country and pop, all to ensure the show remains new every year.
“Every time we look at a song, or a version of a song or any idea, we judge it on a scale of ‘will this make people feel better in some way?’ ”
Once they discover potential songs and numbers, they cast the show to highlight each performer’s specific talents.
“We find people that are incredible at different things and have a multitude of styles,” Moranz told the Charleston City Paper. “Then once we solidify the cast, we actually try to choose songs that … allow them to do what they do best.
“There’ll never be a moment that is slow onstage or that is not kind of amazing. Because if it’s not amazing, we’ll literally cut it before the audience ever sees it. If we make a mistake or judge poorly in some way, we’ll change it until the performers are doing what is best for them.”
This year’s cast features returning favorites, like Tiffany Parker and Matthew Billman, as well as new talent, including Matt Shingledecker, a Charleston native and Broadway performer. Shingledecker has performed in Broadway productions including Les Miserables, Rent and Wicked.
“Every time somebody walks on stage, it has to be a highlight,” Moranz said of this year’s cast.
For the Moranzes and the cast, the goal of the show is to raise people’s spirits during the Christmas season.
“You can look at [Christmas] a whole lot of different ways, but when folks walk into the theater, we want them to be filled with joy.”
For more information and tickets visit charlestonmusichall.com
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