By Lexi Muir
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Every year, the choirs here work together to put on the single most popular show at this school, “Holiday Spectacular,” which is scheduled to begin this year on Dec. 3, earlier than in past years. It is the most attended and the most talked about show of the year. As a celebration of the sounds of the season, the directors and performers have one goal: to get everyone in the audience into the holiday spirit.

“It is a total celebration of traditions of the holidays,” Lamonte Kuskye, choral director and director of the musical, said. “It’s all about spectacle. It’s a show where people can just come and be happy.”

According to Kuskye, this year the show will be loosely celebrating Christmas in New York–specifically, Central Park.

“We are going to have the illusion of people ice skating in Central Park,” he said. “We have only done this once before.”

According to Kuskye, “Holiday Spectacular” is the most widely attended show here. He said that this year, they have added a fifth show to give more people an opportunity to come.

Along with being the most popular show here, it is also the most rehearsed. Evan Cain, member of the Ambassadors choir for the past two years and senior, said that the choirs have been rehearsing their songs since the first week of school.

“We started after-school rehearsals the first week of school,” Cain said. “We did this along with morning rehearsals, and the Rockettes have had rehearsals during SRT as well.”

The shows this year will take place earlier this year than usual. They will be performed on Dec. 3, 4 and 5 at 7:30 p.m. and on Dec. 6 and 7 at 2 p.m. According to Kuskye, the Saturday night show was moved to 2 p.m. because of a conflict with a men’s basketball game that same night. Tickets went on sale to the public on Nov. 5 at the bookstore, and while many seats are gone, students can still buy tickets for $8, $10, $12 and $15 depending on where they want their seats to be, according to Kuskye.

Kuskye said he thinks this year could be their best year yet.

“There is such variety in what we are doing,” he said. “The order is different and we have brand new costumes. There is also a hilarious Santa scene, the ice skating and a train.”

Cain said that students should attend the show because it really puts them into the holiday mood.

“It’s big, bright and exciting,” he said. “Everyone I see after the show has big smiles on their faces and they always say they just want to go out and go Christmas shopping and be with their families. It really gets you into the family mood.”

Kuskye said that he thinks despite the recent economic situation, the turnout this year will be comparable to years past. “Economically, everyone is concerned,” he said. “But people want and need to see holiday shows.

“We are going to have such fun this year. We have so many fun kids; I am really looking forward to putting it all together.”

Cain said, “It would be really great for more students to come to the show. I know they won’t regret it if they do.”