Christmas concerts to feature 2 well-respected performers

Four-time Tony Award-winner Audra McDonald and veteran actor Peter Graves are the guests for this year's Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas concerts.

Performances are Friday and Saturday, Dec. 17 and 18, at 7:30 p.m. in the Conference Center. The concert is free, but tickets are required and will be available at the Conference Center and online beginning Tuesday at 10 a.m. Lines will begin forming at 8:30 a.m. in front of door 12 of the Conference Center. The Web site is www.lds.org/events.

McDonald, who made her Utah debut as part of the Utah Symphony's kick-off of the 2002 Cultural Olympiad during the Winter Olympics, won Tony Awards for her performances in "Carousel," "Master Class," "Ragtime" and "A Raisin in the Sun."

Graves is best known for his acting roles in the late 1960s and early '70s in the popular TV series "Mission: Impossible" and the 1980 airline-disaster spoof "Airplane!" More recently he has hosted episodes of the cable-channel A&E's "Biography" series.