Trans Siberian Orchestra director shared what's new and why the Indy show will be special

Christmas entertainment can mean a lot of different things: school pageants, light shows, "The Nutcracker," wholesome yet moderately terrifying Cold War-era claymation.

But over the past few decades, any city with a working arena has likely been able to set its calendar for a different type of Christmas tradition. Something that touches on Tchaikovsky and Rudolph, but with a little more guitar. And lasers. And fire.

Trans-Siberian Orchestra will return to Gainbridge Fieldhouse for a pair of Boxing Day performances on Tuesday. IndyStar spoke with musical director and founding guitarist Al Pitrelli about the group's longevity, what makes this year's show stand out and his personal excitement for playing in Indy.

Questions and responses have been lightly edited for brevity and clarity.

Trans-Siberian Orchestra's history

IndyStar: How did your career get started?

Pitrelli: Like anybody else my age, 61 years old, my first exposure to music was The Beatles on Ed Sullivan. I got bit by the bug and there was no way it would go away, much to my parents' chagrin.

Growing up in the '60s and '70s and going to the public school systems in New York, you got handed a trumpet or saxophone in the orchestra or band. I learned how to read music and play works by the great composers, showtunes like "West Side Story," "Jesus Christ Superstar," Motown. That was the music we grew up with. A lot of different styles and different artists.

And if you look at my career, it was kind of all over the place (Pitrelli has played with everyone from Megadeth to Michael Bolton), because I never really wanted to be one particular type of guitar player or musician. My education and my early career, unbeknownst to me, were getting me prepared to work for (TSO founder) Paul O'Neill, because it's not one style of music. It's all things. It's a lot of classical, a lot of traditional music, a lot of rock 'n' roll.

Tell me about how TSO got started.

I had met Paul in 1985 just kind of kicking around New York City, cutting my teeth as a session player. We would see each other in clubs or wherever, and exchange pleasantries like "Hey, dude, we've got to work together on something together."

So '85 turns into '95, and I had established myself. I was Alice Cooper's musical director for a while.

(O'Neill eventually called him to work on the track that would become TSO's first hit, "Christmas Eve/Sarajevo 12/24.")

He was looking for someone who was going to treat it more like a soundtrack as opposed to a guitar player, because it was a pretty important story he was trying to underscore about the war in Sarajevo. I started just kind of noodling about that opening ostinato, and I started kind of humming the cello line in "God Rest Ye Merry Gentleman." And our musical kinship was forged right there.

(After the song became popular), he called me and said I'm going to write an entire album around that one track, are you interested? I said count me in.

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Was the band's purpose always to explore the holidays?

I don't really know. I just know that when an opportunity presents itself, you need to jump into the deep end real quick.

When the first record came out, I think it sold like 3 or 4 million copies, and it became synonymous with Christmas. That momentum kept going, and (O'Neill) followed that trajectory.

We have done other records, non-holiday works like the Beethoven collection. But somehow, magically, TSO has become synonymous with the holidays. From mid-November until New Year's Eve, it's become a tradition for millions of people, and I'm so proud of that fact.

Talk me through some of what's changed since those days.

The timeline goes like this: '96, we put the first record out. Huge success. In '98, we put "The Christmas Attic" out. Again, multi-platinum. Not too long ago after that, we filmed the movie "The Ghosts of Christmas Eve." Huge success.

At that point, I felt like we were in the Steely Dan of Christmas. All we do is make records and put them out. Lots of people buy them, but we've never played a show. Then in '99, somebody dared Paul to put a band out on tour. And one of the things you don't ever do is dare Paul O'Neill (O'Neill passed away in 2017).

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It was seven cities on the itinerary in '99, and they were all sold out. We had one 24-foot box truck, a bus or two and a fog machine.

You fast forward 24 years later. I've got 21 tractor-trailers, 12 buses and we split into two bands in 2001 to cover the entirety of America. And it just keeps getting bigger.

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Tell me about the musicians in the band. I imagine there's a very large roster that you go around and see who's not in the studio or on tour …

It's pretty much the same people every year, actually. At the end of the day, when you put a bunch of musicians in a room together and you have really wonderful chemistry, you don't want to mess with that too much.

The majority of people have been with me in a touring capacity for over 20 years. What they do all year long is their own business, and I'm sure they keep busy. But from late October until January, they're committed to doing this thing because they've helped it grow.

Got it. So tell me about this year's show. How many musicians do you have out there, and what's different about it?

The story will be the same. People have adopted "The Ghost of Christmas Eve" as a holiday tradition and love it, and rightfully so. It's very Frank Capra-esque. It's about missing someone and loss and redemption, but with a happy ending.

Everything else about the show is different. We work all year long on it. I'll get home around New Year's Day, take a couple of weeks to catch my breath, and get right back into, "What are we going to do next year that's going to make it bigger and better?"

We have a lot of people that I affectionately refer to as repeat offenders. They love the familiarity of the story, but I want to put them back on their heels.

Musically, there's a lot of different stuff at the front- and back-ends of the show. And visually, it's all different.

At any given time, we have 25 people on stage because we have a seven-piece string section, the band and a choir. And people don't realize it takes 80 or so bodies underneath the stage to bring this thing to life every day, especially on double-show days. It's a lot of work to put this production together.

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On taking kids to a Trans-Siberian Orchestra show

You mentioned "repeat offenders." I think it has become a generational thing. You must be seeing people who were parents at the beginning coming back as grandparents, or kids now bringing their kids.

You hit the nail on the head, and I'm so glad you said that.

In my case, my older children are 37, 32 and 28. They grew up with this thing and watched it grow. And they love coming out to see it now. And then my two younger daughters, 12 and 7, were born into it. They just light up.

Indianapolis is actually going to be a very special show for me. My youngest daughter hasn't seen me play since before COVID. She doesn't have any recollection of what this is, and I can't wait to watch her eyes light up like every other child's in the building.

Your daughter is coming to the Indianapolis show?

Yeah, my wife and two younger kids are coming because they haven't been able to see me due to COVID restrictions. We're still tightened up in a bubble.

So this will be the first time in four years that they're seeing me on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. I've been looking forward to this show for a long time. I didn't want to rush the tour — I want to enjoy every show — but Indianapolis is going to be a very, very special show.

Last question: At this point, you could probably just be in charge of the whole thing. You don't need to be out there on the road every single night. What about this show has drawn you in?

You dream about this your whole life. You dedicate your life to something that seems like it has no promise of ever coming to fruition.

I love this. This is like air. I put that guitar around my neck, and I'm instantly 15 years old.

People retire to pursue their hobbies. This is my hobby. I'll retire probably when I'm dead. In the meantime, I'm going to have fun as long as I can go out there and do a great job. Not a good job. A great job.

Trans-Siberian Orchestra in Indianapolis: If you go

When: 3 and 7:30 p.m., Dec. 26

Where: Gainbridge Fieldhouse, 125 South Pennsylvania St.

Tickets: Seats for both shows are available at gainbridgefieldhouse.com

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Rory Appleton is the pop culture reporter at IndyStar. Contact him at 317-552-9044 and rappleton@indystar.com, or follow him on Twitter at @RoryEHAppleton.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Trans-Siberian Orchestra in Indianapolis: Q&A with Al Pitrelli