An actor who played a prince on Broadway and Marcus in “Sex and the City” will be in Portland for this weekend’s “Broadway at Good Theater” holiday concert.

Sean Palmer is the guest vocalist for this year’s program, which opens tonight and continues through Sunday at the St. Lawrence Arts & Community Center in Portland.

Palmer starred on Broadway as Prince Eric in “The Little Mermaid,” and also played the male lead in the stage production of “Saturday Night Fever.” He appeared in “The Apple Tree,” “Fosse” and “Dream,” and is perhaps best-known for playing Marcus on the hit TV comedy “Sex and the City.”

Good Theater regulars will join Palmer for the holiday show: Marva Pittman, Kelly Caufield, Lynne McGhee, Jennifer McLeod, Marie Dittmer, Deirdre Fulton, Grace Bradford and Stephen Underwood. Also on the roster is guest David Goulet.

The troupe will present a mix of traditional and contemporary holiday songs in the first half of the show, and Broadway songs for the second half.

“I wanted to have a male tenor this year as our guest, since last year we had a baritone,” said Brian Allen, who directs the show. “For me, these 10 performers provide an amazing variety of music and styles from gospel to Joni Mitchell, from Broadway to ‘Bridge Over Troubled Water.’ “

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Allen reached out to Palmer via Norm Lewis, who sang at last year’s concert. “Norm Lewis, who was so wonderful last season, offered to help find someone when our first star fell through. He put me in contact with Sean, and we are very excited to have him join us,” Allen said.

Palmer will perform Mitchell’s “River”; his big number from “The Little Mermaid,” “Her Voice”; “In the Bleak Midwinter,” a 19th-century Christmas carol; and “Beautiful, Beautiful World” from “The Apple Tree.”

Palmer chose to sing Mitchell’s “River” because it is a non-traditional Christmas song. It tells the story of a romantic breakup during the holiday season. It’s a widely covered song, and appears frequently on Christmas albums.

“I don’t really like the saccharine-y Christmas songs. ‘River’ is a great, heart-breaking song for Christmas,” Palmer said.

Although Palmer’s Christmas traditions were mild growing up, he has embraced the holidays in New York. “The energy and the lights are amazing. You can make your own traditions here, walking around and looking at the store windows. It’s a very social time of year, and I am very social,” he said.

Allen’s goal with the program is to present a fun, uplifting concert that’s unpredictable but consistent year to year.

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“There is so much great music out there. I try to vary things and make each set of concerts fresh and unique. Of course, the star really changes the program from year to year,” he said.

Victoria Stubbs will serve as music director and play keyboards in the production. She will be joined by John Lawson on bass and guitar, and Bill Manning on percussion.

Staff Writer Bob Keyes can be contacted at 791-6457 or at:

bkeyes@pressherald.com

Follow him on Twitter at:

Twitter.com/pphbkeyes

 


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