ABC Christmas Special, Thread ufficiale

Just got back from the taping I'm pretty sure most of you already know the setlist so I'll try to fill in the rest of the details. One of the longest takings I've ever been too but overall it was an amazing show. MC looked amazing and sounded great, her falsetto was really strong tonight especially during "Charlie Brown Christmas" & "Christmas Time Is Here," great job. M was having problems w/ her in ears through out the whole show which caused her to redo the ending of "When Christmas Comes" twice. She seemed to be in a great mood lots of talking and "festive" quoting haha. She only wore 2 outfits through the show, 1 being a red Santa dress for "Oh Santa" and a black dress for the rest of the show. The duet w/ her mom was amazing the first time but even better the 2nd time they did it again. I think that pretty much sums up the rest of the bits, if you have any questions I'll be glad to answer.

Before it comes out of my mind i'll do a little review...

I came in line like almost 2pm, there's like 15 people in line at that time. Well we waited till almost 8pm to get in. The stage is beautiful. There's red drapes on the frame of the stage and gold curtains hanging. There's silver christmas trees on the side of the stage and a huge one in the middle. The band is on the left riser of the stage with the horn and strings section at the bottom of the riser with golden music sheet stand cover with MC's initials on it. The lighting effects are supperb. The production crew intructs us the safety and legalities and other stuff while waiting for mariah. Michael Jackson's hits are playing while waiting. Some of the fans sing along (well all of us) when I'll Be There played on the speakers. Background vocals were Mary Ann, Sherry, Trey and Melonie Daniels.

1. Santa Clause/Oh Santa - They instructed us to be quiet until oh santa intro came. Mariah is glowing. She's upbeat and very festive. The kids and the dancers from the music video we're there. She's wearing the red ensemble like the oh santa video one with the white collar. After the song she exits and we wait.

2. When Christmas Comes - This one sounds nice live but the horn section was not there. Only her band and back-up. She changed into the Black enseble with sequined stilleto shoes. Her vocals was nice (but the chorus is a little lipped, but the adlibs are not) She messed up on the ending so they have to do it again. She said that that's not what they rehearsed awhile ago so they did it again from the "la da ra da rap pa pap" part. She was instructing the band about that part while singing it live. It's like effortless and i get goosebumps when she just adlibs accapella randomly. Standing O

3. O LIttle Town - They brought out the choir for this. It was live. The instruments are full and rich with the strings. She was adlibing at the end. There's nothing really different from the studio version. Standing O She's having problems with her ear monitors coz she can't hear herself loudly

4. Christmas time is in the air - They brought out the Grand Piano for thi one for Eric Daniel to play. She sang it LIVE! and the nostalgic feel of the song especially when it's live is like WOW. I had a smile in my face the whole entire time she was singing it. Mariah introduced someone from the audience from the Make A Wish Foundation. The little kid got a Standing O. She said that the kid is still waiting for a kidney transplant and she's gonna be featured on the special as well.

5. Oh HOly Night - She was about to introduce this song but she's like "Wait i know there's backround vocals and choir on this song but they are not here yet so how am i going to introduce this song?" And then she sat on the piano chair while waiting, but she has to move coz they are gonna remove the piano off the stage so they gave her a directors chair while waiting. She was joking about it. They brought out the choir again. It's the 2001 track, with some live vocals mixed in. The audio is not that good on this one coz you can tell from the pre-recorded and the live version. I guess they r just gonna edit it or edit it out of the special.

Some lamb gave her a hello kitty ornament in the middle of the taping. The same one got kicked out for being rude to other people around the back for he keep on standing and blocking the view of the other audience and the camera and his attitude is just... no comment. So everyone clapped when he exit the building lol

5. Here comes santa clause - Mariah introduced randy jackson for this one to play the bass. She ask if who's gonna do the monologue part of the song between randy and trey. but no one did it and randy doesnt wanna do it. JD's track was there which is weird (they should just left it out) but it's ok and fun with the dancers.

7. Joy to the World - I'm still thinking if this one is live or lipped (she didn't look like what i called "constipated" lol when she sang this song compared to the disney parade, BET special) but it is still fun. She said she had a special guest later.

8. Charlie Christmas - They brought up the grand piano again. Brian Cox was playing it. Mariah introduced him and sang the intro from Fly Like A Bird. They brought two vintage tv on stage. One didn't work at first and they have to fix it. The intro is the cartoon and then the intro for the song while the dancers are dancing on one side. The director has to cut it coz Mariah talked (or adlibed) while the dancers are dancing. So they have to do it again. Mariah sang at the back of the piano with an ornament on top of it. IT was live too. Her falsetto is supperb!

9. O Come All Ye Faithful - The highlight of the show. Everyone is surprised and in awe seeing Mariah's mom on stage. She got a standing o for that. They brought out the choir and the strings and horns back on stage. Patricia missed her cue on the first take but her voice i breathtaking. She still has it even with age. Everyone is just standing up in awe on the entire song. After the song u see her and mariah whispering to each other and mariah said to the audience that they will be back after a meeting. Now randy, michael and the assistant direnctor is on the stage deciding if they need to redo the song, it took them 30 mins to decide. and then the choir left

They have to redo the ending of When Christmas Comes to make it more "solid ending" which is better. then they redid the Here Comes Santa with a tanding for Mariah and jut the band and randy and the dancers performing. Then the announcer said that they are gonna redo O Come all ye faithful so the strings and horns are back but it took awhile before they start because the choir left home already so they did it without the choir. Mariah is explaining jokingly that they have to redo it because her hair was misplaced on one shot (lol) but instructed us to be quiet after her part before her moms cue so that she knows when to come. The second performance of this song is better than the first but her mom missed her last cue on the last "he shall reign" part. But they're just gonna edit that.

10. All I Want - this one is the extra festive version. It took them awhile to start for they have to set up the stage with gifts and stuff but when mariah came back it was worth it. She wearing the dress she wore somewhere i forgot. It's the red one with a small ribbon between the cleavage. The dancers where wearing christmas costumes (gingerbread man, the nutcracker characters, frosty the snowman) and there's boxes of gifts around the stage. She did good and she is very festive. On the bridge part they have snow falling down the stage. She even toss a stuffed toy to the audience. Then the show ends.

ALL in all the show is awesome. It's just taping a tv special i longer than i expected but it's all worth it. I can't wait to see the special on tv (i might be there with the sign )