Lesley Nicol says ‘Downton’ co-star encouraged her to narrate ‘Tabernacle’ Christmas

NEW YORK, Dec. 17 (UPI) — Lesley Nicol says her Downton Abbey co-star, Hugh Bonneville, and her late brother were instrumental in her participation in the 21st annual PBS and BYUtv special, Joy: Christmas with the Tabernacle Choir.

Nicol, 71, talks about this year’s Victor Hugo-themed musical event, which features Broadway star Michael Maliakel, 36, singing holiday songs and selections from the musical and film with the famous choir and orchestra The Hunchback of Notre Dame.

Under the musical direction of Mack Wilberg, the pre-recorded program premieres on PBS and its streaming platforms on Tuesday and on BYUtv and its apps on Thursday.

“When (Bonneville) heard that I’ve been asked to do it, he just said, ‘You have to consider me your mentor. You have to do this. You never want to do anything like this again. You don’t want to have done anything like this before,” Nicol told UPI in a recent Zoom chat with reporters.

“I would say the same thing (to any future performer) because it’s true. It’s absolutely right. He just said, ‘You just go ahead and do it’.”

Maliakel’s advice to anyone who comes after him in the aftermath Tabernacle Christmas productions must be fully prepared and know their lines and musical arrangements “inside and out” so that when they arrive in Utah to shoot the show, they can be there and enjoy the experience.

“It all happens and comes together very quickly and I think my favorite memories were just those moments where I could just look around and take it all in and be grateful for the amazing hard work of all the musicians and everyone, that came together to pull this off,” Maliakel said.

“If you’re worried about all the little finicky musical things in that moment, then you don’t really get a chance to realize what an incredible thing is happening in front of you. So I tried my best to be as present as possible and I would advise anyone who is going to do this again to do it as well.”

Maliakel, who played the titular hero in Aladdin on Broadway for three years, said he’s thrilled the special was filmed so he can relive the experience at home.

“Luckily, it’s filmed so beautifully, so you have this amazing archive of the experience you’ve had with the behind-the-scenes footage and everything,” he said. “It’s a huge responsibility, but the experience is so gratifying and beautiful.”

Maliakel and Nicol take moments during the show to share heartfelt glimpses of their personal lives and offer a few words about why this event and the holiday it celebrates is meaningful to them.

“It was very collaborative, and we really had to decide what we wanted to share,” Maliakel said.

He recalled telling the production team about his background as a Catholic who grew up watching Tabernacle artists on TV and eventually started singing in his own church choir.

“A lot of that was incorporated into how we went about choosing music for the show and later when it came to deciding what kind of stories we share to set up each piece,” he added.

Nicol recalled how her brother, who was British but lived in South Carolina, made watching Tabernacle Christmas a special part of his Christmastime tradition every year.

“He had wanted to see the Tabernacle Choir for a long time. He watched it on TV every year, adored it, adored Mack, was in awe of him, and he could never get a ticket because it’s pretty hard to get a ticket. The producers) took it up right away and they flew my family out from South Carolina,” she said.

“What’s kind of poignant about this is that — I’m sorry to say, it was last December, it happened — he died in August. So he got to meet Mack, and he got to see the show, and he got to see his little sister in the middle of that stage and it was a huge gift that it was his last year on this planet, makes it that much more special.”