TSO: Redefining Rock
By Thomas Morrone, CFP®, CPA
Over the years I have heard various versions of the Christmas Story. I do not mean Santa Claus and the Ho! Ho! Ho! or Rudolf the red nosed reindeer or Frosty the snowman. Growing up as a Catholic, the Christmas story was all about the birth of baby Jesus. Now, I am not getting religious and preaching about being Catholic so please keep reading. Recently, our neighbors invited us to join them to see the Christmas Story as presented by the Trans-Siberian Orchestra (TSO). Cathy and accepted the offer because neither of us had ever seen TSO and have only heard wonderful things about it and it sounded like a great time. Our neighbors had seen the show numerous times before and were excited about seeing the performance again. That alone made me more intrigued about going. The TSO were playing at the XL Center in Hartford, so it was close by which made it that much more attractive to attend. We had dinner before the show in Hartford, so it made for a perfect evening with great friends.
Honestly, I did not know much about TSO or their show beforehand, so I was curious and excited at the same time. A little research in advance and some conversations with our neighbors revealed that the show has a limited number of performances for a specific time of year starting early November with the final shows of the season at the end of December. We made our way to our seats and we settled in with a few minutes to spare. I was entertained from the moment the show started to when the last note of music ended two hours later. It was a combination of a rock and roll concert, opera, laser beams, images on multiple large screens around the stage, pyro techniques and robotics. A narrator would periodically guide you through the thoughts and feelings of what the performers were attempting to convey through their performance utilizing some of the classic religious Christmas carols as the basis. There were many original songs presented by TSO as well. The combination of the special effects, the energy from the musicians and singers running around on stage and into the audience, kept me wondering what was going to happen next. I was on the end of my seat and was amazed by the incredible choreography with the lights, music and robotics. It was truly amazing. For those that have experienced their show can appreciate and understand my emotions. In no way did the performance seem to be religion based and there was a much stronger emphasis on the performance itself.
I should have started by saying that this is not an endorsement for the show. I am not recommending that you should go online and immediately purchase tickets to their show. This is merely me sharing my wonderful experience and my opinion on how entertaining the show was and how much I enjoyed myself. On the ride home in the car, we all shared our interpretations about of the show and it was obvious that everyone else enjoyed themselves as much as me.
If you are interested, I have included a link below to the TSO website where you can read in detail about their creator and history. Enjoy.
https://www.trans-siberian.com/about
Also, I want to wish everyone a happy, safe and healthy holiday season with you friends, family and loved ones.
Until the Next Tom’s Take…
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