Carols by Candlelight at the Bowl is as much of a Melbourne institution as meeting under the clocks at Flinders Street and checking out the Myer Christmas windows.
This year, alongside traditional favourites Marina Prior, Denis Walter, Silvie Paladino and David Hobson, is local singer Ruva Ngwenya, who has taken audiences by storm in the lead role of Tina – Tina Turner the Musical.
Ruva Ngwenya will perform her first solo at Carols at the Bowl on Christmas Eve.Credit: Simon Schluter
Melbourne-raised with Zimbabwean heritage, Ngwenya says life has been hectic since she took on the role of the superstar. “It’s been extremely challenging, one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do in my life, it’s also been the most rewarding thing I’ve ever done,” she says.
One of the highlights is audience members who saw Turner perform live telling her she did a brilliant job. “That’s a pretty cool feeling to know that I’m honouring her in the most accurate way I can,” she says.
In what has been a busy year touring Tina, she also released a track – called Losing Control, it reached No. 3 on the ARIA dance charts – and performed in front of about 80,000 people at the NRL Grand Final. “I’ve pushed a lot of boundaries and done so many things that I’ve just never done in my life before, and there’s not really anything else I can compare it to, other than a year of firsts and challenges.”
Ngwenya as Tina Turner.Credit: Janie Barrett
Right up there with her achievements this year is performing solo at the Carols. Ngwenya remembers watching the broadcast on TV as a kid, loving the music and admiring the array of amazing dresses. As part of the ensemble in the musical Moulin Rouge, she performed at Carols a few years ago, but this year she’s in the spotlight.
Is she frocking up? Hell, yeah. There will be sparkles and glam, in a nod to Tina Turner, as well as “some Mariah Carey-style Christmas magic”.
“It’s really, really cool to be back again with a solo moment, it’s very special. I feel like I’ve been waiting for this, and I’m very excited to be on the Carols stage by myself,” she says, adding that many of her large extended family will come together to watch the broadcast with her parents and brother.
It’s been a big year for ARIA-award winner Meg Washington, who will also perform. Her recently released film How to Make Gravy – co-written and produced with her husband, Nick Waterman, and based on the Paul Kelly song of the same name – is sure to enter many Australian households as a Christmas tradition. The song itself will surely get a guernsey; it is the quintessential Australian Christmas carol. Paul Kelly himself performed it at last year’s show, as well as Silent Night, to great acclaim.
The actual song-list is always a tightly guarded secret leading up to the show. No doubt, all the classics will feature: Hobson’s Jerusalem is a notable favourite, Mariah Carey’s seasonal earworm surely too.
Also on the bill are the stars of the musical Jesus Christ Superstar Mahalia Barnes, Michael Paynter and Javon King, the cast of Dear Evan Hansen and the cast of Tina The Musical.
In the past few years, Santa’s arrival at the Bowl has been preceded by an array of performers making cameos, including John Wood, Eddie Perfect, Virginia Gay and Dave O’Neil. Recently retired ABC broadcaster and comedian Sammy J makes a cameo this year, a debut appearance at the event – as none other than an elf. Writing on Instagram, he described it as a “childhood dream unlocked”.
Held and broadcast on Christmas Eve, the Carols for many is the soundtrack to social gatherings, frantic wrapping of presents, cooking up a storm or reclining on the couch.
Carols by Candleight is an institution and a major fundraiser for Vision Australia.Credit:
The event was first held at the Myer Music Bowl in 1959 and was first staged in 1938, at the Alexandra Gardens. A major fundraiser for Vision Australia, in 2023 the event made $2.3 million in donations, sponsorship and ticket sales; all performers volunteer their services.
Carols by Candlelight, presented by Vision Australia, is on December 24 at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl. It will be televised on Nine, which owns this masthead. Dress rehearsal is December 23.