Those of you who are over 40 probably get my reference and know I'm speaking of
Donny & Marie Osmond
On Thursday night 12/19/13, I had the privilege of attending the Donny & Marie Christmas Concert here in Columbus. It was held at the Schottenstein Center. A colleague at school had an extra ticket, so I attended with her and her mother. We all had a fabulous time and enjoyed the concert immensely.
This is the first time I've seen them perform live, and they do a very energetic and entertaining show. They are both true entertainers and clearly love being on stage. I knew they were both great singers, but I didn't realize how versatile they are, especially Marie. She can sing everything from Opera to Broadway to Pop and she does it all with high energy and humor.
While this show was billed as a Christmas show, there was a lot of non-Christmas music mixed in. They both did some of their classic hits from back when they looked like this:
Donny even sang Puppy Love. As he sang on the stage in a very classy suit and tie, the video screen above him was showing him singing "back in the day".
The mature women of the audience obliged him by screaming just as we did as girls when we were all teenagers. Donny has now turned his famed Puppy Love into a connection with the American Humane
Association to encourage the adoption of puppies, and that was promoted during the show.
They also sang a lot of Broadway music. I didn't remember that Marie had been Anna in The King & I on Broadway in '98. She came out in a dress from the show and sang a couple of songs. She was every bit as good as anyone else I've ever heard in that role.
I also didn't remember knowing that Donny had portrayed Gaston in Beauty & The Beast. He sang some songs from that show as well.
Of course, he was also the consummate lead in Joseph & The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat in '99.
Donny sang at least 2 songs that he wrote in tribute. He sang a song that he wrote to his parents. He sat at the piano and played while he sang that song. Meanwhile, images of his parents/family scrolled on the big screens above the stage. Of course, that one made me cry. Here is a family photo of Mom & Dad with all 9 children:
Then he talked about celebrating his 35th anniversary with his wife Debbie (married in '78), and he sang a song he wrote about all the words you should say in a good relationship. It was very touching.
Together they have 5 sons: Donny Jr., Jeremy, Brandon, Christopher and Joshua, and quite a few grandchildren.
Both Donny and Marie interacted a lot with the audience. They both went down on the floor and shook hands and hugged people. Here is a link to a video from our concert with Donny greeting his adoring fans:
Marie called a man up on stage. His name was Chris, and he was clearly very nervous. She got him to "sort of" sing with her, Blue Christmas. It was very cute. She also invited him and his wife to come backstage after the show. She asked the wife if she could have Chris, to which the wife replied, "If I can have Donny."
Marie said, "Merry Christmas!"These 2 performers are amazing. They have managed to handle show business careers for their entire lives (Donny was introduced on the Andy Williams show when he was 5) while raising large families. Never have we heard the story that is so typical of child-stars - of substance abuse and cycles of rehab.
Donny sang Moon River in tribute to his mentor Andy Williams. That one made me cry too!
This photo includes the youngest Osmond, Jimmy:
I could go on for another hour, and add a million more photos (Just search on Google Images and you'll find more than you can handle!), but I think you get the point by now. This was a FABULOUS concert, and I'm so thrilled that I got to go! Thanks to Ree and Janie for welcoming me into their family for the evening - we had a great time!!
Thanks to my loyal fans for reading, and don't forget to give the fish their Christmas Treats!
:) Amy
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