#avdc 2023 @ boston

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jenniejoel: He called himself a “Blainegel”. Acoustic SOWK in Boston #AVDC @ DarrenCriss Best gift of the season. Part 2 in comments. jenniejoel: SOWK acoustic. Simply gorgeous.

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emersoncolonial: #TBT: We're throwing it back to earlier this month when @ darrencriss joined our #ColonialGrandStaircase tradition. 😍❄️

Only 4 more days till CRISSMAS, err CHRISTMAS!

#darrencriss #averydarrencrissmas

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x x x x x x x x x x x x x x | Emerson Colonial Theatre - Boston, MA (December 7th, 2023)

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Review: A VERY DARREN CRISSMAS Tour Brings Music and Fun to Emerson Colonial Theatre

Making his way to the stage of the Emerson Colonial Theatre on the recent Boston stop on his “A Very Darren Crissmas!” tour – by going up, down, and around the sold-out venue – Darren Criss transported his eager audience from their seats to the palm of his hand.

And the popular performer, accompanied by a tight five-piece band, kept them there with a buoyant, tune-filled, nearly two-hour show, which featured everything from holiday favorites, from his 2021 debut CD that shares its name with the tour, to pop music covers and more.

The Emmy-winning actor and singer – famed for Fox-TV’s “Glee,” FX’s “The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story” and “Hollywood,” and Broadway shows including  the 2011 revival of “How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying,” 2014’s “Hedwig and the Angry Inch,” and the 2022 revival of “American Buffalo” – opened with what he called “a winter love song,” John Mayer’s holiday-themed “St. Patrick’s Day.”

Criss’s voice was richly expressive on that and other songs, including jazz-infused renditions of “Winter Wonderland,” “(Everybody’s Waiting for) The Man with the Bag,” and a gorgeous “The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire),” the Mel Tormé classic Criss calls his “very favorite Christmas song.”

He also offered up wonderful covers of Regina Spektor’s contemplative ballad “New Year,” and, in one of the evening’s most impressive vocal moments, the 2004 Keane hit, “Somewhere Only We Know,” performed without mic to showcase the superb acoustics of the spectacular Colonial.

The legendary try-out house also provided the perfect setting for Criss to sing “Welcome Home,” first performed by opera singer Enzio Pinza in the 1954 Broadway musical “Fanny,” with music and lyrics by Harold Rome.

The San Francisco native’s good humor was sprinkled throughout the show. Apparently, whenever John Rox’s novelty song “I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas,” a hit for 10-year-old Gayla Peevey in 1953, played on the radio in Criss’s childhood home, everything came to a halt so his mother could sing along. In Boston, her now-adult son’s version of the song had him, and his rapt audience, bopping along.

Weaving in plenty of colorful patter between the songs – which also included a light and lovely “When You Wish Upon a Star” – Criss shared freeform musings on the mood of the day, defined the musical term “imperfect rhyme,” and humorously lamented the takeover of the Billboard charts at this time of year by Burl Ives, with “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,” and now Brenda Lee, with her current number one, “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree,” first recorded 62 years ago.

At the close, Criss strapped on a guitar for his hip-swiveling “Christmas Dance,” a rollicking tune he not only wrote but also customized with song requests shouted out by his swooning Boston audience. It was “A Very Darren Crissmas” indeed.

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x x x x x x x x x x x x | Emerson Colonial Theatre - Boston, MA (December 7th, 2023)

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abrunetti1: 14 years ago, I found a video of this man in a Gryffindor uniform, sitting on a trunk, singing about going back to Hogwarts. 12 years ago I met him, and the rest of the crazy people behind that masterpiece. 8 years ago, I was hired as the Assistant Stage Manager of Trail to Oregon for the Off-Broadway run. That then started my career as it stands today. Tonight I finally got to see one of his tours. @ darrencriss has become not only a friend, but also a collaborator, creative partner, and just an all around amazing human. I have watched his career take off. I’ve seen him win an Emmy and a SAG Award. I’ve seen him perform for Presidents. I’ve seen him kick ass in so many roles on television and movies. I’ve seen him get married, and I’ve seen his first child be brought into the world. Darren, I am so proud to call you a friend. Thank you for playing a huge role in my career and my life. One day I will repay the favor. *Video via his ig story

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Via Alex Edelman's Instagram Story (December 16th, 2023)

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Via Darren's Instagram Story (December 7th, 2023)

Link

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A Very Darren Crissmas

Thursday, December 7 at 8pm. Emerson Colonial Theatre, Boston.

TICKETS ON SALE WEDNESDAY, JULY 26 8:00pm