Christmas music, and holiday cheer, and Christmas in general isn’t anything we get too excited about around these parts. Enforced cheer and goodwill towards man just isn’t our thing, and we do holiday party-level drinking every day of the year. But even our Grinch-sized hearts are warmed by this news: The Simpsons and This Is Spinal Tap‘s Harry Shearer, and his wife, songwriter Judith Owen, are coming to BAM on December 7 to put on a free holiday sing-along. Finally, a holiday event that isn’t fa-la-la-la-lame.
Modeled after the intimate gathering that Shearer and Owen would host at their home, except expanded in scope for a thousand people to attend, the sing-along will consist of two sections. In the first, the happy Christmas couple will be joined by a number of special guests (which have in the past included Christopher Guest, Jane Lynch and WEIRD AL YANKOVIC) who’ll perform two Christmas songs each, both sentimental and satirical, for the assembled audience. We hope Atom and His Package show up, he’s got a great Christmas song:
The second half of the show, Owen and Shearer will perform classic American Christmas songs with the help of the audience. When it comes time for “The 12 Days of Christmas,” Owen will apparently separate the audience into 12 sections and give prizes to the section that does their part the best. So if you’re gonna go, get those pipes ready so you can win a kitschy holiday gift to pawn off on your friends. “Oh man, I spent so much money on this,” you’ll say.
At this point, there’s no word on whether it’s a ticketed or first-come, first-served show, but we’ll be sure to update you when we know.
Harry Shearer and Judith Owen Holiday Sing-Along, Saturday, December 7, 9pm, Brooklyn Academy of Music, 30 Lafayette Avenue, FREE