The Wizards of Winter bring their rock-opera Christmas to the Fargo Theatre

The holiday rock band with Trans-Siberian Orchestra roots plays a Sunday matinee on Broadway on Nov. 22, its first Fargo show in our records.

The marquee on Broadway is about to start looking a lot like December. Four days before Thanksgiving, the Fargo Theatre trades its usual film-and-concert mix for flute, shredding guitars, a narrator and a wall of holiday rock.

The Wizards of Winter play the Fargo Theatre on Sunday, Nov. 22, at 3 p.m. Tickets are through Ticketmaster. The theater holds about 870, and this is the band's first Fargo show in our records. The stop sits in the early part of the band's holiday run, a few days after the Quad Cities on Nov. 19 and a week ahead of Rochester on Nov. 29, with dates stretching into mid-December.

If the sound of electric guitar wrapped around a Christmas carol makes you think of Trans-Siberian Orchestra, you're on the right track. The Wizards of Winter started as a TSO tribute band in Frenchtown, New Jersey, around 2008 (some accounts say 2009), then quickly evolved into a group writing and performing its own original holiday music, according to the band's Wikipedia entry. Musical director and keyboardist Scott Kelly and his wife Sharon, on flute and vocals, founded it.

The TSO connection is more than stylistic. Over the years the band has featured a string of former Trans-Siberian Orchestra members, including vocalist Guy LeMonnier, narrator Tony Gaynor, who narrated for TSO for 12 years, and singers Tommy Farese and Peter Shaw. The lineup has changed over time, so check the band's materials for who's on this year's tour, but the format has stayed the same: a story-driven holiday show that borrows the theatricality of rock opera and the warmth of a Christmas concert.

That combination is why a NEPA Scene review of a Wilkes-Barre show argued the band's holiday magic extends beyond a TSO tribute. The appeal works for a wide crowd. Older fans get the classic-rock muscle and the familiar carols; kids get the lights, the costumes and a narrator walking them through a winter tale.

The Fargo Theatre is the right room for it. A restored downtown theater of about 870 seats puts everyone close enough to see the fingers on the fretboard, with the kind of old-movie-palace atmosphere that suits a holiday show. It's a long way from the arena scale where TSO plays, and that's the point: you get the same musical idea at a fraction of the distance.

The 3 p.m. Sunday start makes it an easy family outing, early enough for younger kids and done in time for dinner downtown. With Thanksgiving that week, it's also a natural way to kick off the season before the calendar fills up.

Bundle up, grab the grandparents and the kids, and let a room full of guitars tell you it's officially the holidays.

Sources: The Wizards of Winter (Wikipedia) (en.wikipedia.org); Wizards of Winter, with four former members of Trans Siberian Orchestra, to perform in Collingswood (WHYY) (whyy.org); Concert review: Holiday magic of Wizards of Winter extends beyond TSO tribute in Wilkes-Barre (NEPA Scene) (nepascene.com); The Wizards of Winter announce return of former TSO vocalist Guy LeMonnier (Metal Temple) (metal-temple.com); The Wizards of Winter tickets (Ticketmaster) (ticketmaster.evyy.net); The Wizards of Winter at Fargo Theatre (JamBase) (jambase.com)