

Many stars have come back to greet us but none more popular than narrator LaVar Burton. It is also a tradition for the guest narrator to stop in and greet the choir performing for the first show of the night. Waiting backstage on a very cold evening in 1999, chaperones were greeted with a hearty handshake and friendly greeting from MASH star David Ogden Stiers.

It was worth the gamble for a chance to hear and see the performance from the VIP area near the front of the stage! If you were backstage, you were usually greeted by the narrator for the evening. You never knew if you would be watching backpacks and purses in the tent behind the Italian Pavilion, if you would be sitting backstage in case a student fainted or needed medical treatment, or if you would sitting in the audience to keep watch in case one of the kids was taken backstage.
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Parents volunteered as chaperones, and we volunteered as many times as possible because we loved watching the Candlelight performance and we got free tickets to EPCOT. My daughter began performing at Candlelight with her high school choir in November 1998. Conductor Derrick Johnson arranged most of the music featured at Candlelight and until his recent dismissal was the official conductor. John Sinclair conducts the orchestra and choir numerous times during the season.

Central Floridian and Rollins College music professor Dr. Guest narrators from sports, film, and music add to the excitement.
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The music is provided by the Voices of Liberty who form the base of the tree, Disney’s cast members who form the tree in the center of the stage, a symphony orchestra of 51 professional musicians from central Florida, and choir members from high schools and church groups from Florida and across America. As a testament to its popularity, visitors pay for dinner at EPCOT’s pricey restaurants just to get reserved seating for one of the three nightly performances.Ĭandlelight Processional is the retelling of the Christmas story in word, music and song with a guest narrator. Without a doubt, the most popular event at the America Gardens Theatre is the Candlelight Processional, relocated to EPCOT from the Magic Kingdom in 1994. The Voices of Liberty singer in the foreground is Kevin Miles – the narrator of the Glory and Pageantry of Christmas which was presented for years at the Disney Village at Lake Buena Vista. Without speaking the words herself, with the aid of her interpreter, she presents a truly dramatic and emotional performance of the poem One Solitary Life using only her hands and face. ABOVE: Marlee Matlin (at podium to the left in the photo) is one of my favorite performers at Candlelight.
