"Downton Abbey" star Hugh Bonneville and Tony Award winner Sutton Foster are featured in this year's "Christmas with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir." It shouldn't be hard to guess which will be lending their singing voice to the annual TV special.
Bonneville's musical background includes appearing the short-lived ABC musical comedy "Galavant," while Foster has performed in the Broadway musicals "Thoroughly Modern Millie," "Anything Goes," "Young Frankenstein" and "Shrek the Musical."
If you are still in doubt: "I don't (think) the world is quite ready for my singing voice," says Bonneville. "I do a little unison stuff, but I thought I would leave it to Sutton Foster to do the solo work. I wouldn't want to break any microphones."
Presenting the performance from Salt Lake City is a massive undertaking. The program that will be broadcast, which runs 60 minutes on PBS and 90 on BYUtv, is taken from three nights of performances to an audience of 21,000 each night. What surprised Bonneville the most by being part of the production is the scale of each night's performance is grand, but he finds what ends up being on the air has an intimate feeling.
Bonneville and Sutton agree that standing in front of the choir during a performance is a memorable experience. The power of the voices to Bonneville felt like standing in front of a jet engine that sends out a warm feeling.
"You really feel very uplifted. The shared experience _ as all good theater is _ is sending that connection across to the audience," Bonneville says. "It is a very much shared experience this Christmas tale we are trying to weave. We are hoping the audience comes on the journey with us to explore."
Sutton describes singing with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir as a surreal experience.
"It is so overwhelming because you are sharing this experience where there are 300-plus people behind you and an orchestra of 100-plus musicians. There are dancers. It is a very powerful and magical experience that is a little hard to describe," Sutton says. "There's this commonality because we have all gathered to this place to celebrate Christmas.
"We are all sharing this moment together. It doesn't matter what you believe in. It was all about coming together and celebrating the holidays."
Sutton's participation is understandable considering her long history in musical theater. The invitation came as a complete surprise to Bonneville. He's been working on stage and television plus in films in England for decades but mostly in less musical arenas. Along with the notoriety that came with playing Robert Crawley in "Downton Abbey," Bonneville has appeared in "Iris," " Wren � The Man Who Built Britain," "Paddington," "Twenty Twelve" and "Hippie Hippie Shake."
Mack Wilberg, the choir's musical director, was in London and saw Bonneville hosting a concert at Albert Hall. He suggested Bonneville be part of this year's production. Bonneville was quick to accept because he believes there is something "remarkable and special about a live performance."
Foster has had numerous chances to feel the same way, having spent most of her career on stage. It was only in recent years she went from a steady string of Broadway shows to starring in television series such as "Bunheads" and "Younger."
Because Sutton is straddling both entertainment worlds, being part of the holiday special was a perfect fit as it was a live performance that was then edited to fit into the television timeframe.
"Most of my career has been on stage and that is what I love," Foster says. "It was great with this to be able to capture the choir's performance for more audiences to see. I hope my career in the future is that I get to continue to do both as I love both worlds."
