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Title:
Christmas Pageant of Peace
Date of transmission:
Wednesday 11 December 2000
Channel: NBC4 - Washington
D.C. Only, Webcast via NBC4.com
Charlotte's role in programme:
Featured Performer
 
Charlotte
got a rare opportunity this year to be at the lighting of
two landmarks; the first being Oxford
Street in London and the second being the National
Christmas Tree in Washington D.C. USA. This was a great
honour for Charlotte and is continued evidence that people
on both sides of the Atlantic simply can't get enough of
her.
Unlike
Oxford Street, we had no site visitors in attendance or at
least I didn't know of any. We also didn't have access to a
live Television broadcast of this event as it was only shown
on a station local to Washington D.C. : NBC 4. NBC 4 must
have recognised the immense interest in this event so they
decided to broadcast the entire Pageant online live.
I'll be
the first to admit, I had no idea about this until minutes
after the webcast had started so I immediately was worried I
would miss Charlotte's portion. This was not to be a problem
though as Charlotte was the last performer before President
Clinton came out to turn on the National Christmas Tree. I
guess they saved the best for last :)
   
Charlotte
took the stage around 5:45 EST after being introduced by
Santa (Al Roker, from NBC Today). I believe he said
something like "we put this young lady's CDon when we
need to relax up in the north pole"
After the introduction Charlotte sang the following:
"Winter Wonderland"
"Silent Night"
"O Come All Ye Faithful"
In between the songs she mentioned how glad she was to be
here to celebrate this event in America and she also said
"my friends in Wales are so Jealous". Charlotte
wore a scarf that said "Cymru" on one side and the
translation "Wales" on the other.
   
   
After Charlotte sang President Bill Clinton came out to
speak and light the tree. The president specifically
mentioned the names of all the performers, Billy Gilman,
Kathy Mattea, Fossie and last but not least Charlotte.
   
   
Next, the entire cast came on stage to sing "We Wish
You a Merry Christmas" followed by "The First
Noel". This was one of the best moments of the entire
programme and you could clearly hear Charlotte's voice
through the rest of the performers.
   
   
Below I
will give several press stories as they become available
about this event as I have really only covered Charlotte's
portion due to the fact I didn't get to see much of the
earlier performers. I must mention though that I did get to
see Billy Gilman's performances and he did quite an
excellent job. I'm constantly amazed with his confidence in
front of a crowd.
  
   
   
Despite
the fact that this event wasn't widely seen in the USA,
especially so due to the umm "political events" occurring
on this day this was yet another great honour for Charlotte.
I have no doubt Charlotte's performance was part of the discussion
during the long trip to Ireland President Clinton embarked
on shortly after leaving the pageant.
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