| Fa La La La La For a complete schedule of The Lil’ Dickens Carolers performances at the Sawdust Winter Fantasy, Laguna Beach and other local venues, visit the group’s website. :: thelildickenscarolers.com |
Be it the “Hallelujah” chorus or “Frosty the Snowman,” nothing gets us in the holiday spirit as quickly as a Christmas carol. As founder of the traditional caroling group The Lil’ Dickens Carolers, Tisha Bellantuoni is a master of harnessing that magic. “One of my main missions is to bring joy, either by helping to build new Christmas traditions or memories or helping people recall old ones,” she says.
Bellantuoni, who is a musical theater veteran with a master’s degree in performing arts and a teaching credential in drama and English, began The Lil’ Dickens Carolers 22 years ago as a way to recreate her own tradition of caroling as a child in her Escondido neighborhood.
“When we started we had one quartet and about 25 songs. Now we have 76 songs and three quartets and a fourth group of subs.”
The Lil’ Dickens Carolers have also become an Orange County tradition, found each holiday season at The Resort at Pelican Hill in Newport Coast, the St. Regis Monarch Beach in Dana Point and the Sawdust Winter Fantasy in Laguna Beach, as well as at local shopping centers and private parties.
“We have whole families that get together to come see us. It’s not Christmas until we see you,’ they say.”
And Bellantuoni’s group is the whole holiday package. “I wanted us to be the strongest [musical] group out there. I wanted us to be apart from other groups that are just out there as window dressing.” So Bellantuoni hired one of the best musical directors in Orange County, Stephen Hulsey. “He is really strict but really good. We start training at the end of September. We have two or three rehearsals a week and we start singing in November.”
The group sings from a catalogue that includes everything from the traditional, such as “The Christmas Song,” to the silly, like “Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer,” and even a few original parodies Bellantuoni has written.
“We are the only Christmas caroling company that does Nutcracker Suite numbers. We did one last year and people were so excited by it that we added two more.”
Bellantuoni’s group also looks the part. “I like to hire not only singers, but actors.” They perform in custom-made Dickens period costumes, she says. “Each one is different because I don’t like the cookie-cutter caroler look.”
Years later, it’s still about the joy caroling brings for Bellantuoni. And sometimes, it’s the most unexpected faces that react. “Even at these fancy resorts, once in a while we’ll be asked to come to a table and sing to a couple or family, but there is one in particular I remember. They were two couples, sitting there with their fancy dinner and they asked for ‘O Holy Night.’ They were just focused on us the whole time, so they didn’t even know that they were each doing the same thing. Without taking their eyes off us, they reached for each other’s hands at the same time without even knowing it. It’s wonderful to stir that kind of emotion.”
