Yonder stars

Yesterday and the day before we had the lowly visitors to Christ’s nativity, so today why don’t we go to the other end of the class system. You know: the kings.

(I don’t want to hear from purists sniffing that the kings didn’t arrive until twelve days after the birth. Not my fault that they couldn’t ask for directions. Besides—if you’re going to go full-metal realism, there are enough natural elements to make the case for the big day not being in December, but in the Spring. The early Christians just moved it to mid-winter to co-opt a lot of pagan holidays. So just back off, have a glass of something and breathe deeply.)

“We Three Kings” is of American origin. It was written by a Pennsylvania Episcopalian rector in 1857 for a Christmas pageant. And it’s been sung by kids at every Christmas pageant in the country ever since.

When I went hunting for an interesting rendition of “We Three Kings Are”, I came across this one, which I believe fits the bill. Not being a fan of the X-Men franchise, I didn’t know a lot about Hugh Jackman, and I knew nothing at all about Peter Cousens and David Hobson. But it turns out that the latter is an operatic tenor, and the other two have well-respected musical theatre chops. They’re all Australian, and I’m guessing that this was for some Aussie TV Christmas special.

Warning: this is not your ordinary Christmas pageant. They're all having a bang-up time singing this; this level of fun is illegal in many states south of the Mason-Dixon Line.

But the rest of us can’t help but wonder at these stars.