The Chelsea Symphony is thrilled to welcome CHRISTIAN COULSON as special guest narrator for our festive annual tradition, Aaron Dai’s The Night Before Christmas - one night only on December 3!

Christian's work on stage includes: 'Richard II' (Pennsylvania Shakespeare), Constellations (The Old Globe), The Changeling (Red Bull), Travesties (McCarter), Everything You Touch (Rattlestick), Ghosts (The Gate, London), Journey's End (West End); on TV: The Equalizer, High Fidelity, Blue Bloods, Nashville, Mozart in the Jungle, Nurse Jackie, the Good Wife, Charles II, Little Britain. Recent audiobooks include: Dark Rises, The Stars We Share, The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue. Movies include: Bite Me, Love is Strange, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, The Hours. Directing includes: numerous shows with Cole Escola; Off Broadway: Dying City (associate director), the Effect (assistant director), Man From Nebraska (assistant director). He is based in NYC.

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 Christian Coulson in this special holiday event - Friday, December 3, at 8pm!

Photo Credit: Emil Cohen