DePaul alumnus Tony Peluso returns to his roots by serving as producer, writer and creative director of “Christmas at DePaul,” a theatrical musical retelling of the Christmas story, on Friday, Dec. 14, at St. Vincent de Paul Parish, 1010 W. Webster Ave., at DePaul’s Lincoln Park Campus.

“We hope this magnificent musical event will become an annual tradition in Lincoln Park and a worthy gift to the people of Chicago to whom DePaul owes its success,” said the Rev. Dennis Holtschneider, C.M., DePaul’s president.

Peluso is drawing from his 20-year career at Disney and other extensive production experience to make the DePaul holiday program an extraordinary event. “This is something very unique. I think our guests are going to be very pleasantly surprised,” said Peluso, who along with Donald Casey, dean of DePaul’s School of Music, came up with the idea for Christmas at DePaul. “We’ve worked very hard to make this different from the city’s many other Christmas programs that people attend at this time of year.”

The elaborate holiday program will include a combined 200-person community choir featuring the DePaul Community Chorus, Providence-St. Mel High School choir and the Christmas at DePaul Singers under the direction of Clayton Parr, director of choral activities, and a 50-piece DePaul student orchestra. Holtschneider will welcome guests, and award-winning broadcast journalist Carol Marin, who is a Chicago Sun-Times political columnist and political editor for WMAQ-TV, will narrate the event. Marin also is co-director for the DePaul Documentary Project and president and CEO of her production company, Marin Corp. Productions.

The 50-minute program will feature special lighting by Theatre School Dean John Culbert, an award-winning lighting designer.

“Our program differs from many Christmas concerts in that this is not a musical ‘laundry list’ of one song after another. Our goal is to retell the story of Christmas by using narration as the thread around the musical selections to recall the milestones leading up to the birth of Jesus,” Peluso said. “To add another layer of visual interest, each song is enhanced with subtle or vibrant lighting changes, and together they act as an ‘exclamation point’ to complete each scene.”

After Peluso graduated from DePaul, he worked as musical coordinator at Disneyland, which led to supervision and production duties for several Super Bowl halftime shows and worldwide touring events, as well as serving as musical director for the opening of Tokyo Disneyland. From there he was promoted to senior show director, writing and directing many major shows and special events for Disney, including Disneyland’s 30th Anniversary Extravaganza, the grand opening of the “Star Tours” attraction, Mickey Mouse’s 60th Birthday Celebration and a $1 million fundraiser for the U.S. Olympic Team. He relocated to Florida upon his promotion to general manager of Pleasure Island, Disney’s night-time entertainment center at Walt Disney World.

Peluso is currently vice president of venues and events for University Properties Inc., (UPI) a company that developed and is managing the newly completed $300 million “Uptown UCF” project at the University of Central Florida, a mixed-use development of student residences, athletic and artistic performance venues, retail centers and green spaces. Prior to joining UPI, Peluso was a founding partner in Triumph Entertainment Inc., a company that joins entertainment with marketing and promotional concepts at a variety of retail, entertainment and recreational venues.

Peluso helped make “Christmas at DePaul” possible so he could give back to DePaul, where he earned a bachelor of music degree in 1973 and received the Distinguished Alumni Award. He also is on the Dean’s Advisory Board of DePaul’s School of Music. Peluso was born in Chicago and raised in Hillside, where he graduated from Proviso West High School; he also served as band director at Saint Viator High School in Arlington Heights before moving to California.

“For me it’s a fitting way to use some of my time and talent to give back something and help create a new tradition at DePaul,” he said.

There will be two public performances on Friday, Dec. 14, at 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. The programs are free, but donations for the St. Vincent de Paul food pantry are requested. Seating is limited; tickets are required for entry and can be reserved at http://secretary.depaul.edu/Christmas or by calling (312) 362-8458.