Holidays get jolt with High Voltage Touring Group show in Folsom

By Eileen Wilson, Telegraph Correspondent

Courtesy Courtesy High Voltage is El Dorado Musical Theatre’s touring group. They will hold a one-night only performance at 7 p.m., Dec. 20, at Three Stages.

It’s the holiday season, and there’s one performance you won’t want to miss.

El Dorado Musical Theatre’s High Voltage Tour Group will light up the stage for one night only, in their annual Holiday Celebration: Cabaret night.

“The Holiday Celebration is a compilation of a lot of songs,” said Debbie Wilson, artistic director and one of the group’s founders.

From haunting strains of “Silent Night,” sung in German, to fun, festive “Mele Kalikimaka,” a Hawaiian Christmas favorite, Wilson said there is something in the show that everyone will love.

“Some of it is really humorous, like ‘The 12 Days After Christmas,’ and some of it is moving, like ‘Tap,’ a story dance about a young boy who is on his own, who wants to spread the Christmas spirit — it’s really lovely,” she said. “Several pieces are a cappella, and some are wonderful songs that you frequently hear, like ‘Carol of the Bells.’”

Jennifer Martin, the troupe’s vocal instructor, looks forward to sharing the season with their audience, as well.

“We are performing some new pieces that have quickly become cast favorites, like ‘African Noel,’ and ‘Feels Like Christmas,’” she said. “The program is quite varied, and includes many a cappella pieces as well as some high energy dance numbers.”

And high energy is nothing knew to this traveling performing group.

“We are a group of 22 people, mostly teens. These performers are our premier touring group — some of the cream of the crop,” Wilson said.

The group recently performed at the California State Capitol Rotunda, and then headed to the Shriners Hospital to bring their Yule time magic to sick children.

“We got to sing at the Rotunda, and also sang ‘Carol of the Bells’ on the Senate floor,” Wilson said.

But it might have been the Shriners’ visit that moved the young performers the most.

“They wheeled kids’ hospital beds to where we were singing,” Wilson said. “The kids and staff kept thanking us, but we were thanking them for letting us share the season.”

For the holiday regulars, there will be repeats of some of the audience’s favorite tunes, while adding several new songs, as well. Wilson said there are some favorites that just beg to be performed every year.

“We have a huge audience; a real mix of people. There seems to be an older generation that has discovered what we do, and they love the old standards. Young kids who come to the show really look up to the performers, and aspire to be performers themselves when they get older,” Wilson said.

One of Wilson’s favorite numbers this year is a rousing tap battle — “a kind of ‘guys versus girls’ number.”

“It’s a difficult tap piece done to music from the Trans Siberian Orchestra,” she said.

While the High Voltage group has performed far afield — on a cruise ship to Mexico, Disneyland, and various Eskaton centers — it may be right here in Folsom and El Dorado Hills that they love to perform best.

“This year the boys will be in uniforms, singing ‘I’ll be Home for Christmas.’ It’s a little remembrance for us all, that we’re fortunate for the things and loved ones’ that we do have,” Wilson said.