This Christmas show rescued John Denver’s music

Years in the making, a Christmas show overcame several obstacles and is now coming to Kelowna.

The music of legendary folk singer, John Denver, has moved countless people over the years and many families can fondly recall listening to his Christmas albums during the holidays.

He also inspired a love of music for many, including a young Rick Worrall in 1975.

“I cut my teeth on John Denver’s music and saw him when I was pretty young and impressionable at the CNE in Toronto. It was with full symphony, and it just blew me away,” Worrall told Kelowna10 during a rehearsal.

“There was something about his voice and his melodies and the lyrics that just resonated with me and I think they resonate with a lot of people.”

Worrall came up with an idea to recreate those performances where Denver’s music would once again lead a full orchestra and opera singers on stage.

But he couldn’t find the musical scores anywhere.

So, Worrall decided to contact Denver’s original conductor-arranger, and friend, living in Los Angeles.

“I didn’t know [Lee Holdridge] and I reached out to him, and he loved the idea,” Worrall said. “But he informed me of the destruction of the charts.”

Following Denver’s tragic death in a solo plane crash in 1997, his management company destroyed the symphony scores behind those memorable performances like the one Worrall saw.

Fortunately, Holdridge kept the original handwritten notes and conductor’s scores. It took 18 months, but they were able to restore the original charts.

“Lee and I ended up rescuing a lot of John’s symphony scores,” Worrall said.

The pair formed a friendship and created the Christmas show, ‘A Rocky Mountain High Christmas’ in 2019. While the cross Canada tour was delayed by the pandemic, it’s now in full swing.

It will be at the Kelowna Community Theatre, Nov. 24 to 26, and supporting the Okanagan Food Bank.

Wherever the tour goes, it brings in local artists to contribute their talents.

In Kelowna, the Okanagan Symphony Orchestra, tenor Chad Abrahamson, soprano Carmen Harris, Neville Bowman, and more will help recreate the magic behind Denver’s timeless music.

“It’s very simple in some ways, it reminds us of simpler times maybe,” Worrall said. “There was such a positive vibe to his music, and I think people, especially in tough times, tend to gravitate to that kind of music, that kind of genre.”