Big band swing will be alive again in State College -- at least for one night -- when the Glenn Miller Orchestra plays at The State Theatre, 130 W. College Ave.
The show, "In the Christmas Mood with the Glenn Miller Orchestra," will feature Christmas tunes played in the Orchestra's trademark style at 8 p.m. Dec. 20.
"It's an 'In the Mood' Christmas show," said State Theatre executive director Mike Negra. "Songs from the '30s and the '40s when they were the biggest band in the country."
Along with Christmas standards, concertgoers can expect all of the old favorites.
"You'll hear a lot of the hits made famous by the Glenn Miller Orchestra," said Glenn Miller Productions president Charles DeStefano, listing "In the Mood," "Tuxedo Junction," "Chattanooga Choo Choo" and "Moonlight Serenade" as some examples.
The Orchestra was the most popular swing and dance band of its time, Negra said, but its popularity took a hit when tragedy struck during World War II.
"Glenn Miller died in 1944," Negra said. "His plane crashed in the English Channel."
Mysteriously, Miller's plane was never found.
Though Miller hasn't led the band since World War II, it stays true to the swinging sound that made it famous during the war, DeStefano said.
"That's our bread and butter," he said.
The Orchestra will also mix things up a bit with a slightly more diverse song selection than the original band.
"The band will also do some newer songs," DeStefano said. "Pop songs in the Glenn Miller style."
Miller's most recent successor, musical director Larry O'Brien, leads the orchestra. Members of the band are professional musicians from all over the country with an average age of about 30, DeStefano said. And though most members weren't alive during Glenn Miller's lifetime, the band's famous big band sound hasn't changed much over the years.
"It's a 19-piece band with 16 instrumentalists and two vocalists," DeStefano said.
The concert promises a chance to experience some classic American big band jazz by the group that made the genre famous.
