Glenn Miller Orchestra Coming to PTPA, Today

Patchogue Theatre for the Performing Arts (PTPA) is proud to present your favorite holiday classics, big band style, with "The Glenn Miller Orchestra: In the Holiday Mood" on Friday, Dec. 11 at 8 p.m.

The Glenn Miller Orchestra returns to Patchogue Theatre with "In the Holiday Mood," a special holiday event that will delight any audience with arrangements of the holiday season favorites, including "Sleigh Ride," "Let It Snow," "Jingle Bells" and "The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire)" in the band's unique jazz sound. "In the Holiday Mood" will also feature the classic Glenn Miller Orchestra big band hits, such as "Moonlight Serenade," "In the Mood," "A String of Pearls," "Tuxedo Junction," "Chattanooga Choo Choo" and many more.

Glenn Miller was one of the most successful composers and bandleaders of the 1930s and '40s big band / swing era. Miller played and recorded with the likes of Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey (who on several of their records, featured an up-and-coming singer by the name of Bing Crosby), Gene Krupa, Eddie Condon and Coleman Hawkins. In addition, during that time, Miller cut 18 sides for Goodman, and also worked for radio studio conductors like Victor Young, Carl Fenton and Jacques Renard. In 1934, Miller became the musical director of the Dorsey Band, and later went on to organize The Ray Noble Orchestra, which included such players as Charlie Spivak, Peewee Erwin, Bud Freeman, Johnny Mince, George Van Eps and Delmar Kaplan, among others.

Formed in March 1938, the second Glenn Miller Orchestra - which would later include the likes of Tex Beneke, Marion Hutton, Ray Eberle, Paul Tanner, Johnny Best, Hal McIntyre, and Al Klinck - soon began breaking attendance records all up and down the East Coast. At the New York State Fair in Syracuse it attracted the largest dancing crowd in the city's history. The next night it topped Guy Lombardo's all-time record at the Hershey Park Ballroom in Pennsylvania. The Orchestra was invited by American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) to perform at Carnegie Hall with three of the greatest bands ever - Paul Whiteman, Fred Waring and Benny Goodman - and created more of a stir than any of them.

In the midst of World War II, Glenn Miller boarded a transport plane ahead of his band to Paris and mysteriously disappeared, never to be seen again. In 1956, the surviving members of The Glenn Miller Orchestra reunited, enduring Miller's legacy long after the big band era faded into American musical history. Today, The Glenn Miller Orchestra consists of an 19-member ensemble and continues to perform Miller's original arrangements for audiences worldwide.

Tickets for "The Glenn Miller Orchestra: In the Holiday Mood" are available online at PatchogueTheatre.org, by phone or at the box office. This is a one night only event. Ticket prices range from $25 to $65 plus fee. For more information on this special holiday performance by The Glenn Miller Orchestra, visit PatchogueTheatre.org or call 631-207-1313.