CHRISTMAS COMES TO WHS—Voices in the show at Westlake High School included, back rowfrom left: Haeley Moore, Atousa Nainavaii, Alex Biersch, Hayden Fongheiser and Kayla MaxedonFront: Nathan Ruff, David Soloway, Elise Loprieno, Jessica White and Nick Saremi. For many, the most festive sound of the holiday season comes from human voices. Maybe that's why caroling has been a tradition for half a millennium.

Alan Rose's 24 years at the helm of the Westlake High School Choral Music Department has produced a tradition almost as venerable. Rose and his 230member choir cut a wide swath with a varied and highly entertaining series of concerts last weekend at the high school's auditorium. As the director aptly told the audience, "This is the most wonderful place to be."

The program was divided into two very different segments. The first half was a traditional choral concert with participants wearing gowns or formal attire and grouped on risers. You can always determine the effectiveness of a school choral program by listening to its freshmen, and, by that measure, Rose continues to be a master communicator. The Freshman Chorus is well-disciplined, with crisp diction and spot-on harmonies highlighting their foursong set, which included "This Is the Time," a new Hanukkah song written by Jill Gallina, and an especially lovely arrangement of Roger Miller's "Old Toy Trains."

YOUNG ENTERTAINER—Natalie Sardonia performs during the "A Class Act" segment of Westlake High School's "Forever Christmas" program. The Mixed Chorale features performers from grades 10 to 12, who sang another Jill Gallina Hanukkah song ("Light the Candles") and a version of Julie Gold's "From a Distance" with new lyrics for the Christmas season. Once again, discipline reigns supreme in Rose's groups: While they are performing, no student takes his or her eyes off him. It is almost as if they are performing as much for him as for the audience.

The Vocal Ensemble sang three songs, including a version of the classic "Silent Night" featuring an entirely new melody composed by the prolific choral arranger Kirby Shaw, and Ed Lojeski's madrigal-like "Fum, Fum, Fum," which requires absolute precision from the singers. None missed the tricky vocal syncopations.

The Men's Ensemble followed with Audrey Snyder's arrangement of the Drifters' doo-wop version of "White Christmas," complete with a wonderful falsetto solo from Nathan Ruff. The highlight of the Women's Chorale segment was "Various Themes on Fa-La-La," in which the familiar Christmas phrasing was set to equally familiar classical works. (For those keeping score, these included "William Tell Overture," "Beethoven's Fifth," "The Blue Danube" and "1812 Overture.")

Closing out the first act, with harbingers to come, was "A Class Act," 12 choir members who combine singing with choreography on four entertaining tunes, the best of which was a charming rendition of Frank Loesser's "Baby, It's Cold Outside."

In Act II, director Rose disappeared, allowing the choir members to loosen up and have fun in a stage show setting. The full-blown production numbers focused on triedandtrue holiday songs (mostly secular), including "Deck the Halls" and "Frosty the Snowman," which were enhanced by stylish choreography, special lighting, smoke effects and multiple costume changes.

The fun included a giant blue roller-skating Frosty singing "Blue Christmas," a Tina Turner-inspired rendition of "Jingle Bells" (à la "Proud Mary") and snippets of '50s novelty Christmas songs like "Nuttin' for Christmas" and "The Chipmunk Song." (Even the kids' parents were too young to have experienced these firsthand!) With a nod toward political correctness, Hanukkah and Kwanzaa were carefully inserted into the lyrics of "We Wish You a Merry Christmas."

The audience, mostly made up of parents and other family members, exuberantly applauded the talented choir members, but I think the evening was best summed up by my wife (a Thousand Oaks High alum, no less), who said afterwards, "It makes me wish I was back in my high school choir."