The Ohio City Singers are heading to Playhouse Square for the first time, with the Cleveland holiday band set to perform a three-night run at the Outcalt Theatre on Dec. 10, 11 and 12. The shows mark a new stage for a group that has spent more than two decades building a local following on the strength of original Christmas music rather than holiday standards.
According to Cleveland Scene, the band agreed to an exclusive three-night engagement at the Outcalt, and the planned show will be Christmas-themed, complete with Christmas trees, Santa and a reindeer on stage. The group plans to perform two sets each night, and the venue offers seating along with space for audience members to dance, the outlet reports.
Chris Allen, the band leader of the Ohio City Singers, told the outlet the group aims to bring 1970s-style Christmas music into the modern era. Per the same report, the band is refining its transitions to make the performances more theater-friendly as it adjusts to a proper stage setting, and it's also working on new material for 2027.
How a Family Christmas Tape Became a Cleveland Tradition
The band's origins trace back to 2003, when Allen, his sister and local singer-songwriter Doug McKean developed original Christmas songs together, according to clevescene.com. Allen had hosted a party at his Ohio City home to record a Christmas album for his parents, and he and McKean wrote songs for that project. The call-and-response tune Real Good Christmas Time was among the songs that emerged from those early sessions, and the band's first public gig was at the House of Blues' Cambridge Room.
A later show at the Happy Dog proved to be a turning point for the band's local profile. Since then, the Ohio City Singers have played private parties alongside public shows at Music Box Supper Club, Akron Civic Theatre, Around the Corner and Vosh in Lakewood, per the Cleveland Scene report. The band does not perform cover songs as a regular part of its repertoire, instead leaning on original material it has built up over the years.
Five Albums and a Yearly Tradition
The group's debut album, Love and Hope, arrived in 2008, after several years of yearly holiday songwriting and performances, when the group decided to release a real record, according to ideastream.org. By 2022, the band had released five albums total, according to ideastream.org, which also reported that Allen and his collaborators decided early on to keep writing and performing holiday music every year following that debut. Cleveland Scene now describes the band as having released a handful of albums overall, performing once a year and maintaining what it calls a mission of spreading good vibes.
Accounts of the band's size have varied over the years. A 2022 report from cleveland.com described the Ohio City Singers as a nine-piece collective led by Allen, while clevescene.com has separately called the group a local ensemble of about a dozen musicians. That same cleveland.com report noted the band annually hosts energetic Christmas shows attended by diehard fans who sing along to most of its 60-song Christmas catalog.
From Forest City Brewery to the Rock Hall
The band's holiday run has taken it well beyond Ohio City over the years. In 2022, the group played a sold-out show at Forest City Brewery before a larger performance at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, according to the ideastream.org report. Other seasons have included concerts at Music Box Supper Club, the Winchester in Lakewood and the Treelawn, per clevescene.com's earlier coverage.
The Playhouse Square booking traces back to representatives who visited the Music Box last year to see the Ohio City Singers perform, the Cleveland Scene report states. Those representatives then discussed bringing the band to the Outcalt Theatre, a conversation that led to the three-night run now set for Dec. 10 through 12. For a band that has spent more than twenty years playing clubs, breweries and private parties, the Outcalt stage represents a notable step up in scale for its annual holiday tradition.
