The Tabernacle Choir’s Christmas concerts are a renowed part of the holiday season, and this year they have some particularly iconic special guests. Hope of the Season: Christmas with the Tabernacle Choir features Ruthie Ann Miles (All Rise) and Dennis Haysbert (24), and the duo recently spoke to TVBrittanyF.com about participating in such a well-known tradition.

Ruthie Ann and Dennis reflected on the experience of collaborating with the Tabernacle Choir and the Orchestra at Temple Square. They also opened up about some of their own Christmas memories and traditions. Audiences can watch their performances as Hope of the Season airs tonight on PBS stations nationwide, and will be available to stream thereafter.

What was it like for you to be a part of this Christmas experience? What do you remember most about it?

Ruthie Ann Miles: The thing that stands out most to me was the care and the love and the hospitality of everybody that was taking care of us. We were in a new city. It was a tight schedule, and we had a lot of things to accomplish in a very small amount of time—and yet everybody was on the same page. Everybody was so kind. [It was like] I know you have a thing to be here, but I want you to be able to breathe, so I’m going to pick you up at this time, and we’re going to take you here. We’re going to give you time.

Everybody was so hospitable, and that’s what made the experience full in my heart, because I didn’t feel stressed, I didn’t feel rushed everywhere we had to go. It was a very tight schedule, because it has to be, because there’s hundreds, if not a thousand people working on this production and and it has to be done that way. And yet I never felt like a cog in a wheel. I never felt like I was a robot. I felt like my personhood was being taken care of. My family was being taken care of. Everything was cared for. Somebody was always thinking of someone else, and that’s what I remember. It was offloaded off of me, and everybody was taken care of so beautifully.

Dennis Haysbert: I was taken aback by the size of the theater. I’ve worked in theater and film and television since I was 20. I have never seen a theater like this and I don’t usually get very nervous, but in this theater, I was nervous. I was in awe of just the scale of it. I said how can I hit every person? And I was so fortunate that they had the teleprompters all over the theater, so I felt like I could see everyone.

But I must say that the choir and the orchestra and all the people individually in it were just so sweet and welcoming, and I never felt alone.

Ruthie, was there a particular song that you were most excited to perform as part of Hope of the Season?

Miles: I was very excited to sing “O Little Town of Bethlehem.” To me as an actor, it is the prime example of taking something that is just on a page—a poem that we’ve known and we’ve heard the song for years, but to be able to paint the picture of this quiet town, unassuming and then in the middle of the night, in the most quiet, peaceful, humble way, the joy of the world is born.

I loved being able to describe the snow-capped homes, the quiet stillness, the dark sky with just some sparkling lights above us, and then suddenly out bursts something so exciting that would change the world forever. Bringing a poem like that to life was very exciting for me, and I was very excited to be able to sing it with Mack [Wilberg] and his choir and orchestra.

Dennis, as this year’s narrator, you get to tell the story of Dr. Charles Mulli, who appears with you during the program. How did Dr. Mulli’s story affect you?

Haysbert: It has affected me in ways that [have] absolutely changed my life. I am still in contact with Dr. Charles Mulli. I plan to go to Kenya as soon as I can, because I want to meet these children. I want to do whatever I can to help him further his his search, if you will, for a good life and education for these children

It was very emotional to me, because just the way he grew up—I felt the pain. I also felt the hope and the desire for him to make a better world. What we’re here for is to try to make a better world for everyone. I believe it’s possible.

Dennis, you made reference to the size of the theater. How does that impact the two of you as performers, when you’re working to reach that many people?

Haysbert: When we perform, it’s always for one person, and it’s that individual sitting in that individual chair—so everyone feels, hear and understands on their level and what’s going on within them. When I look at a camera, I’m looking at the lens. I’m not thinking about a thousand or a million or five million people looking at me. I’m looking for one person and if you touch one person, then you have done your job.

Miles: I would absolutely like to to double that. The difference between performing in a crowd of 21,000 people, but also having cameras follow you around, is not a challenge. But it certainly brings a different dimension, because you make eye contact with the people that are closest to you—as far as your vision can reach. You want to communicate with them, but also you’re aware that there is a camera that also has an additional how many people behind that lens.

And so you just kind of toggle between, I’m talking to you, and now I’m talking to you, and then I will talk to you, and I’m also speaking with you. That’s the magic and the challenge of being in a in a live event space that also has cameras with you. Just like Dennis said, our goal is to talk to one person, whether it’s 21,000 or if it’s just one person.

What are some of your or your family’s Christmas traditions? How do you celebrate the season?

Haysbert: I have a very large family. And the one tradition we do have, it’s our family prayer before our meal. We get whatever family that we have together—it’s never less than 20 [people]—and we all hold hands. The power of that is so palpable, so extreme, so loving, so beautiful. When you have kids as little as one and then the adults holding hands, I don’t think there’s anything more powerful.

Miles: Just like you, Dennis, I’m part of a large family. My husband is one of several kids, and everyone’s got kids, and we all come together. There’s lots of food and love and holding all the babies. The only thing I can think of that’s really unique to me is I have to have kimchi at Christmas. And so if we don’t have any in the house, I have to go find the Korean supermarket—even if it’s 40 minutes away—and I’m going to get a jar of kimchi and make sure it’s at that family meal.

Hope of the Season: Christmas with the Tabernacle Choir premieres tonight at 8:00 p.m. ET on PBS and is available to stream on the PBS app. It will also air on BYUtv, the BYUtv app and BYUtv.org. Photo Credit: Courtesy of Intellectual Reserve, Inc.

Article content is (c)2020-2025 Brittany Frederick and may not be excerpted or reproduced without express written permission by the author. Follow me on Twitter at @BFTVTwtr and on Instagram at @BFTVGram. For story pitches, contact me at tvbrittanyf@yahoo.com.