The Chelsea Symphony is thrilled to welcome MARIO CANTONE as special guest narrator for our festive annual tradition, Aaron Dai’s The Night Before Christmas - one night only on December 6!
Mario Cantone needs no introduction - a celebrated actor and comedian, he is a critically acclaimed and beloved on stage and screen.
He is best known for his stage roles in his Tony-nominated one-man show Laugh Whore and his Broadway appearances in Assassins and Love! Valor! Compassion!, as well as his role as “Anthony,” Charlotte's wedding-planner-with-attitude in the Sex and the City franchise.
Mario is currently recurring on the hit FX show Better Things and is about to shoot the Universal feature, All My Life. Next up in theatre, Mario stars in the Broadway-bound Bliss.
About this musical setting, Aaron explains the TCS connection to this iconic poem:
When Clement Clarke Moore wrote the poem “A Visit from St. Nicholas”—also known as “The Night Before Christmas”—in 1822, his large country estate called “Chelsea” extended all the way from what is now Eighteenth Street to Twenty-Fourth Street, and from Eighth Avenue to Tenth Avenue in Manhattan. A wealthy gentleman and devout Episcopalian, Moore lived with his family atop an enormous hill (now long gone) near the corner of Twenty-First Street and Ninth Avenue. Today’s Chelsea district takes its name directly from Moore’s estate, and The Chelsea Symphony therefore has a kind of native connection to the man and his legacy.
Originally written for Moore’s children, “A Visit from St. Nicholas” is primarily responsible for establishing the contemporary American conception of Santa Claus, including his appearance, the night he visits, his method of transportation, the number and names of his reindeer, and his act of bringing toys to children. Before the poem, American ideas about St. Nicholas and other Christmastide visitors varied tremendously, with significant differences between ethnicities, religions, and social classes. Moore’s vision of Santa Claus created a happy medium among these often competing ideas—a quintessentially American tradition in and of itself.
Catch Mario Cantone in this special holiday event - Friday, December 6, at 8pm!