TREE OF LIFE
Macy’s own unique new float features a giant Christmas tree and a carol-singing choir of employees
By DIANE HERBST
A
T the Macy’s in Waikiki, Hawaii, customer service ambassador Marvin Rea has been keeping a secret. This lover of performing community theater (he’s a former Disneyland dancer and singer) decided to audition for a role on a new float in the 2017 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. The unique float is a giant lighted Christmas tree that will hold over 125 employees as they sing carols along the Parade route.
“I thought, why not?” he says. Rea, 55, sent in two tapes, and couldn’t believe the news when he was picked. “It was such a shock,” says Rea. “I didn’t tell anybody and it was a surprise to everybody at my store. They didn’t know I sang.”
Soon, the whole world will know. Rea will be joining Macy’s employees from 24 states and Washington, D.C., ranging in age from 20 to 73, who will be aboard the float.
The task of bringing together this large group of people to make merry fell to Wesley Whatley, creative director of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.
Growing up in Georgia, community singing was a big part of Whatley’s life. His family gathered around the piano to sing during holidays, and he has fond memories of participating in community bands, choirs and theater. “I remember how special that was,” he says.
This isn’t the first choir comprised of Macy’s employees. A group of employees in the 1950s created the Macy’s Singers, and even cut an album.
Whatley wanted to recreate that feeling of musical community among employees — and in turn, kick off the holiday season for spectators — with the new float, called The Macy’s Singing Christmas Tree.
About six months ago, all Macy’s employees, running the gamut from executives to call-center workers, were offered the chance to submit audition tapes, some from employees who have been with the company for 30 years.
“They said they have always dreamed of participating in the Parade,” Whatley says, “and just because they work in a Macy’s store does not mean they are not singers themselves.” Choral director and conductor Judith Clurman of the Manhattan School of Music will teach the group its repertoire in the days leading up to the Parade. It will include popular holiday songs and an original by Whatley called “Together at Christmas” that will be broadcast live. “The lyrics are really about what it feels like to gather together during the holidays and sing,” he says. “I am excited for the choral members. Not only have we created the opportunity for them to perform on TV, but to get them together and get to know each other.” For this Thanksgiving, Rea’s fellow employees will be his makeshift family, as he is travelling to New York alone since his wife is battling cancer. The trip, he says, and the chance to sing “was such a blessing. It’s really kind of a dream come true. My family, my friends, [they] just can’t believe it.”