Anyone who has children, or has watched television during a holiday season, knows ABC Family is famous for showing 25 Days of Christmas. Favorites such as The Grinch, Rudolph, and Frosty can be seen nightly along with newer holiday classics like Elf and The Santa Claus. And this year, ABC Family will debut a new original musical, The Mistle-Tones, on Sunday, December 9th at 8 pm, and I am sure a few Ridgefielders will be watching.
According to the ABC Family website, a description of The Mistle-Tones is as follows, “Blessed with an extraordinary singing voice, Holly is all set to audition for the newly vacated place in the famous Ridgefield, Connecticut, Christmas group, “The Jingle Belles,” which was founded by her later mother forty years ago. Shocked and upset when the slot goes to someone else, the barely talented best friend of the group’s de facto leader, Marci, Holly winds up convincing the local mall manager to hold a competition for the best Christmas group to host the yearly Christmas festival at the mall. Putting together a hodgepodge group of her own with a few quirky member of her office, Holly finds herself on a journey to the real meaning of Christmas – with a new singing group and a new love thrown in for good measure.”
Repeated emails to ABC Family, Tia Mowry and Tori Spelling went unanswered but the following information was discovered.
The movie was actually filmed in Salt Lake City, Pleasant Grove, and Ogden, Utah in late February 2012. The Salt Lake City outdoor, destination mall, Trolley Square, and the neighborhood known as The Avenues (The Aves) were decorated for the holidays complete with faux-snow (although there was some still on the ground) and used in the production, along with sound stages in West Valley City.
I don’t know about you, but I’ll be watching ABC Family on Sunday night to see if Ridgefield gets a mention.
*Thanks to a reader for alerting us of the Ridgefield mention.