Behind-the-scenes look at Trans-Siberian Orchestra's 'Ghosts of Christmas Eve'
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When you go to see Trans-Siberian Orchestra, you may wonder whether you are watching a rock concert, a holiday show or a pyrotechnics-filled extravaganza.
As fans will tell you, the orchestra offers all three.
The group’s long-running Christmas program, “The Ghosts of Christmas Eve,” offers rock-infused renditions of classic and contemporary holiday music accompanied by spectacular effects, including lights, lasers, fog and flames.
The orchestra will perform the program at 3 and 7:30 p.m. Friday at Nationwide Arena.
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The Dispatch recently caught up by phone with Trans-Siberian Orchestra's director of touring and production, Elliot Saltzman, who offered a peek behind the curtain of one of the most unique holiday programs.
TSO by the numbers
“The Ghosts of Christmas Eve” boasts 682 lights, 18 lasers and 70 fog and smoke machines. “It’s an incredible array and display,” said Saltzman.
Surrounding the live performers are 10 automated video walls on 15 winches.
“These winches are high-speed aircraft cable, capable of carrying 2,000 pounds on a cable,” Saltzman said. “That enables us to move those screens up and down (and) sideways.”
To help get everything where it needs to be — and make sure the effects go off without a hitch — a huge crew is required: Two touring groups run simultaneously, employing 120 crew members each.
“We then employ about another 160 union stagehands to help us put everything up during the day, and that’s not including all the ushers and ticket-takers and building security,” Saltzman said.
During the day of a show, riggers mark out the arena at 5 a.m. The crew loads in an hour later to build the stage on one side of the arena; lights, fixtures and other components meant to go above the stage are built on the opposite side. “Then we have about 50 stagehands roll the stage, which is already populated with all the equipment and everything on it, underneath the lights,” he said.
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The goal is to keep the audiences' attention
Through the combination of inspiring and intense music and the eye-popping effects, Trans-Siberian Orchestra aims to transport audiences during the two-hour-and-15-minute show. “It’s so spectacular, it’s so in your face, that when you get there, from the moment the show starts, you don’t look at your phone, you don’t think about what the babysitter’s doing, you don’t think about your dog at home,” Saltzman said. “You’re just transfixed.”
The show has grown over the years
“(Founder) Paul O’Neill’s motto was ‘Bigger and better,’” Saltzman said. “The music obviously speaks for itself, and the performers are incredible, but you also have this production that is so over the top.”
Because the orchestra’s Christmas programs have grown larger in scale, it has outgrown some venues featured in earlier tours. Consequently, Saltzman said, some fans travel to a city near them to see the show, and others follow the orchestra on the road. “It’s like the Grateful Dead scenario. … ‘Yeah, I’m seeing them in Columbus and Cleveland — where are you going?’” he said. “It’s pretty exciting.”
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Newbies, prepare to be stunned
Although Trans-Siberian Orchestra has legions of longtime fans, Saltzman enjoys watching the reaction of first-time audience members at its Christmas shows.
“You get a 75-year-old man or woman sitting within the first 30 rows or even (further) back, and when those flames go off, you feel the heat in your face,” Saltzman said. “And when those lasers start going. … The looks on their faces: they’re just gobsmacked.”
Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow
Greater Columbus has not seen much actual snowfall this season, but attendees should be prepared for plenty of fake snow generated by machines.
“We always make it snow,” Saltzman said. “It’s Christmas ... I will make it snow, I promise.”
At a glance
Trans-Siberian Orchestra will perform “The Ghosts of Christmas Eve” at 3 and 7:30 p.m. Friday at Nationwide Arena, 200 W. Nationwide Blvd. Tickets start at $52.50. For more information, visit www.nationwidearena.com.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Trans-Siberian Orchestra will perform Dec. 23 at Nationwide Arena
