Las Vegas Review-Journal (Sunday)
Pentatonix sends “Caesars greetings” from Las Vegas in its NBC holiday special.
ANY musical Christmas special worth its mistletoe knows the importance of special guests. For its third NBC event, airing at 10 p.m. Monday, Pentatonix delivers Kelly Clarkson, the Backstreet Boys and Maren Morris, along with Penn & Teller. The real guest stars, though, are the many, many Caesars Entertainment properties, including The Forum Shops, the Juno Garden wedding chapel and the Fly Linq zip line. The absolutely bonkers result — truly one of the stranger things you’ll see this holiday season — is called “Pentatonix: A Not So Silent Night.” Possibly because “Pentatonix: Caesars Greetings” was a little too on the nose. The a cappella singers wake up on Christmas morning, “Hangover”style, inside a tricked-out Caesars Palace suite with no idea what happened the night before. Scott Hoying is wearing a centurion costume. Kirstin Maldonado is dressed like a mime. Mitch Grassi looks like he mugged a Gazillionaire knockoff. And Kevin Olusola seems to be indulging in some serious Theo Huxtable cosplay. Only Matt Sallee, the newest member of the group, has any recollection of how they spent Christmas Eve. “All I remember is Caesars’ midnight buffet!” Hoying exclaims, before the group is shown sampling the wares and taking selfies at the Bacchanal Buffet. “Ohh, I’m pretty sure I dreamed about those crab legs,” Maldonado adds. The rest of the special finds Pentatonix retracing its steps and doing that beatbox-y thing all over Las Vegas — at least at the city’s Caesarsowned properties. Upon entering their suite for the first time, Hoying is stunned by the opulence. “Wow, Caesar, what can’t you do? First the salad and now this.” They turn up in the seats at the Zappos Theater at Planet Hollywood Resort for “a little 10-part harmony” with resident headliners the Backstreet Boys. They perform “Joy to the World” on