Since 2012, we have welcomed our audience to the free Advent calendar in the run-up to Christmas. In addition to the artists' favourite arias, traditional Christmas carols from all over the world are always heard. One of the most famous is "I'm dreaming of a white Christmas". Covid-19 is now making it impossible to welcome you into the house this year, so the two Australians Alexandra Hutton and Samuel Dale Johnson are dreaming of the legendary "White Christmas", as they did in their childhood. But then it happened, as part of the 2019 Advent calendar, that our American bass Patrick Guetti made a brilliant contribution to the foyer programme: "You're a mean one, Mr. Grinch": He now sings and dances this "Christmas-critical Christmas standard" once again in the Christmas Carol Studio - together with Tyler Zimmerman and Markus Brück.

So because you can't come to us this year, we're coming to you with all the trimmings: with videos in which our performers introduce you to these two classics, the accompanying song lyrics and, last but not least, a karaoke version of each, recorded for you by Kenneth Berkel (piano), Peter Nitsch (double bass) and Rüdiger Ruppert (drums). Actually, all you have to do now is bake and prepare the punch yourself. And then:

Australian soprano Alexandra Hutton dreamed of a white Christmas as a child - I saw my first snow a few years ago, in Switzerland: I came out of a restaurant late at night, everything was quiet - and there were snowflakes everywhere. It was so beautiful that I immediately cried. In Australia, of course, Christmas is summer, so we often celebrated at our beach house on the coast of New South Wales. And my grandma gave me a new beach towel every year! —

Australian baritone Samuel Dale Johnson barbecues in the garden for the festive season - When I was twelve, we went skiing in the Snowy Mountains, that's where I saw snow for the first time. But not at Christmas, but in our winter, in July. Over the holidays we had a prawn barbecue. Guess who was hopping around the garden? That's right, kangaroos. —

+++ The first verse

I’m dreaming of a white Christmas
Just like the ones I used to know
Where the treetops glisten
And children listen
To hear sleigh bells in the snow

+++ The second verse

I’m dreaming of a white Christmas
With every Christmas card I write
May your days be merry and bright
And may all your Christmases be white

+++ The third verse

I’m dreaming of a white Christmas
Just like the ones I used to know
Where the treetops glisten
And children listen
To hear sleigh bells in the snow

„White Christmas“

... Bing Crosby sang it for the first time in 1947. From this time on, this American Christmas carol from the pen of Irving Berlin travelled around the world and exists today in countless versions from classical to jazz to pop.

Alexandra Hutton and Samuel Dale Johnson sing.
Kenneth Berkel (piano), Peter Nitsch (double bass) and Rüdiger Ruppert (drums) play.
The interview was held by Markus Brück.
Philine Tiezel is responsible for the scenic arrangement.

He can do them all, the villains, the creeps, the misanthropes. Markus Brück needs to give his colleagues some lessons here, and probably you too. Because no one can hold a candle to Markus when it comes to grim and gruesome — Imagine you wake up in the morning, you've slept terribly, had horrible dreams and it's Christmas. The most horrible festival of the year. I hate Christmas. That's what I want to see ...   —

Patrick Guetti and Tyler Zimmerman first try good humour and entertainment. And then you can only ask Markus — You hate Christmas? It is the most joyful time of the year ... with family and presents ... Markus! Don't be such a Grinch —   

+++ The first verse

You're a mean one, Mister Grinch.
You really are a heel.
You're as cuddly as a cactus,
You're as charming as an eel, Mister Grinch.
You're a bad banana with a greasy black peel.

+++ The second verse

You’re a monster, Mister Grinch!
Your heart’s an empty hole.
Your brain is full of spiders,
You’ve got garlic in your soul, Mister Grinch!
I wouldn’t touch you with a
thirty-nine-and-one-half-foot pole

+++ The third verse

You’re a foul one, Mister Grinch!
You’re a nasty-wasty skunk!
Your heart is full of unwashed socks,
Your soul is full of gunk, Mister Grinch!
The three words that best describe you
Are as follows and I quote:
Stink! - Stank! - Stunk!

+++ The fourth verse

You’re a vile one, Mister Grinch!
You have termites in your smile.
You have all the tender sweetness
Of a seasick crocodile, Mister Grinch!
(Spoken:) And given the choice between the two of you
I’d take the seasick crocodile

+++ The fifth verse

You’re a rotter, Mister Grinch!
You’re the king of sinful sots.
Your heart’s a dead tomato
Spotched with moldy, purple spots, Mister Grinch...
(Spoken:) Your soul is an appalling dumpheap overflowing with the most disgraceful assortment of deplorable rubbish imaginable, mangled up in
...Tangled-up knots.

+++ The sixth verse

You nauseate me, Mr. Grinch!
With a nauseous, super naus.
You’re a crooked jerkey jockey
And you drive a crooked hoss, Mr. Grinch!
(Spoken:) You’re a three-decker Sauerkraut and toadstool sandwich
...with arsenic sauce.

„You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch“

... is a Christmas carol originally composed in 1966 for the cartoon special How the Grinch Stole Christmas! The lyrics were written by Theodor "Dr. Seuss" Geisel and the music was composed by Albert Hague.

Patrick Guetti, Tyler Zimmerman and Markus Brück sing and play.
Kenneth Berkel (piano), Peter Nitsch (double bass) and Rüdiger Ruppert (drums) play.
And Markus Brück is simply trying his best as a teacher.
Philine Tiezel was responsible for the scenic design.