Teen to pay holiday visit — on TV
By Beverly Creamer
Advertiser Education Writer
On Christmas Eve, Karen and James Jolly and other assorted Jollys will gather around the TV set and wait for a vision.
It will come during the usual "Late Show with David Letterman" time slot, as the face and voice of their daughter, Alice, is beamed into their living room as part of a nationwide CBS/Hallmark Holiday Special.
"My parents can just turn on the TV Christmas Eve and see me," Alice Jolly said.
Alice Jolly, an 18-year-old sophomore in music education and international studies at Willamette University in Oregon, couldn't come home for Christmas this year. But she's doing the next best thing — arriving tomorrow, on Christmas Eve, via television as part of Voce Femina, Willamette's elite women's 40-voice choir.
"It's our first Christmas without her," said Karen Jolly, professor and chairman of the history department at the University of Hawai'i-Manoa.
"We keep telling her, 'You need to send the details (of the TV appearance) so we can get everyone gathered around.' "
Alice is missing Christmas at home in Hawai'i because of the difficulty of getting airplane reservations during the holiday season and her need to be at a conference on the East Coast between Christmas and New Year's. But she will be home on New Year's Eve.
And now her parents will get to see her at Christmastime, too, after Voce Femina was chosen for the Christmas Eve special this year along with Male Ensemble Willamette and the Chamber Choir.
"My parents can just turn on the TV Christmas Eve and see me," said Alice, from Salem, Ore. She's a graduate of Iolani School, where she sang in the choir all through high school. At 5 she began violin lessons.
But her parents are still unclear exactly what time they should tune in. The broadcast is scheduled for the 11:30 p.m. slot normally reserved for Letterman. But they haven't yet heard exact details from their daughter, who is ensconced in end-of-semester exams.
The Christmas special will reach an estimated 2.6 million viewers across the country.
The Willamette University choirs are three of the six choirs participating in the First Presbyterian Church of Salem's CBS/Hallmark musical performance. First Presbyterian was selected from among 60 applicants nationwide vying for the CBS slot. In addition to the 235 voices, the 59-minute performance will include 16 instrumentalists, 14 bell ringers and the church's massive pipe organ.
Jolly and Voce Femina will sing "Hark the Herald Angels Sing" with the Presbyterian's mixed-voice choir, accompanied by brass, organ and hand bells.
Reach Beverly Creamer at bcreamer@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8013.
