Jesse Grandmont expects this year’s VPP Christmas Jamboree to be little like the music which happens when family gets together during the holidays.

Grandmont, know for his show Fiddler on the Roof and as part of the Starbright Christmas ensemble, is one of five artists bringing Christmas to Victoria Playhouse Petrolia starting Friday.

“The way I’m describing the shows this year is Starbright is like the classic family TV special…like Andy Williams. The Christmas Jamboree is more what the family does when the special is done.

“It’s a lot of fun putting a show on like this,” he adds “the whole goal is to make it a foot-stomping, good time.”

Host Diane Chase and Mark Payne have been working with VPP Artistic Directors David Rogers and David Hogan for a number of days and Grandmont and the other artist (Callandra Dendias and Alex Baerg) will work together for three days before Friday’s opening.

“We’re taking the carols everyone loves and putting fun twist on them , and we get some freedom to do what we want,” he says adding it is a wonderful vote of confidence to the musicians to be able to improvise. “It is great working with people who trust you and can tell you do what to want to do…we run it through to make sure it sounds good and then we have some fun with it. And as we have fun, we feed that energy to the audience so they have fun, too.”

And Grandmont likes to think the fiddle lends a little something extra. “You can throw in the guitar or throw in the base, but throwing in the fiddle can change the mood,” he says.
“It can change the energy, or it can bring it down and make it more peaceful …It can touch someone in anyway because they’re stomping their feet and dancing or tearing up …it s an instrument that can always reach someone.”

The VPP Christmas Jamboree is on stage, Friday till Monday and tickets are available at the VPP box office.