The Tabernacle Choir selects a Tony winner for its 2024 Christmas concerts

Temple Square's Tabernacle Choir will likely play to its largest audience in years at its 2024 Christmas concerts — and a Tony Award-winning actress will perform with the group.

The annual Christmas concerts will be held Dec. 19, 20 and 21 at the conference center in downtown Salt Lake City, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announced Friday. The center will be open at its full capacity of 21,000 seats for the first time since 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic and ongoing construction at Temple Square led to limited seating in recent years.

Singing with the choir will be Ruthie Ann Miles, a Broadway performer who won a Tony in 2015 for her supporting role as Lady Thiang in a revival of “The King and I” starring Ken Watanabe and Kelli O'Hara. Miles also received a Tony nomination for her starring role as a beggar in a 2023 revival of “Sweeney Todd.”

Miles can now be seen in Ayad Akhtar's play “McNeal” with Robert Downey Jr. at New York's Lincoln Center Theater through November 24th.

(Listen this week to “Mormonland” podcast with choir president Mike Leavitt.)

On television, Miles appeared in all three seasons of the legal drama “All Rise,” had a recurring role on the spy series “The Americans,” and provided the voice of the mother in the 2020 Netflix animated musical “Over the Moon.”

Mack Wilberg, the choir's music director, said in a press release, “Miles is praised for her vocal talent coupled with unforgettable performances.”

The choir will announce the speaker for this year's Christmas concerts later, according to the press release.

Tickets for the Christmas concerts are free but required. The choir distributes the cards randomly, with the number of cards per household limited to four. To request tickets, register on the choir's website – thetabernaclechoir.org/christmas-concert-2024 – during the registration period, which begins Tuesday at noon Mountain Time and runs through Friday, Nov. 1, at 11:59 p.m running. Admission is open to everyone aged 8 and over.

For those who missed the ticket raffle, a line forms at the Tabernacle in Temple Square each performance night at 6:30 p.m., prior to the 8 p.m. start

Miles is also scheduled to appear with the choir on this weekend's “Music and the Spoken Word,” beginning Dec. 22 at 9:30 a.m. No tickets are required. The rule is: first come, first served.

Last year's Christmas concert — featuring Broadway singer Michael Maliakel and “Downton Abbey” star Lesley Nicol — will air on PBS Dec. 17 and 24 and on BYUtv Dec. 21-25. The choir also plans to release a CD and DVD version of last year's concert.