Shortly before her third and final performance as narrator for the Tabernacle Choir’s 2023 Christmas concert , Lesley Nicol lost “a large chunk” of her tooth.
But the actor, well known for her role as the “Downton Abbey” cook, Mrs. Patmore, quickly realized there was no need to panic.
She was surrounded by high-quality musicians, but the volunteerism aspect of the Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square meant that many of the singers had full-time jobs outside of music — which, for Nicol, really came in handy on this Saturday night.
”Turns out if you’ve got a choir of 300-plus, there’s at least three dentists and an oral surgeon in there, so I had my pick,” Nicol recently told media on a Zoom call from London, noting that the issue was fixed immediately. “That was pretty impressive.”
For Nicol, the resolution of her tooth debacle wound up being just one of several perks that came with performing alongside the Tabernacle Choir.
It’s been a year since Nicol and Broadway star Michael Maliakel took part in the choir’s annual Christmas concert over three nights at the 21,000-seat Conference Center in Salt Lake City. Now, the recording from the concerts is airing for an even wider audience in the coming weeks, beginning with its PBS premiere Tuesday night and a showing on BYUtv Thursday evening.