Dallyn Vail Bayles

We were fortunate to attend President Monson's birthday party on Friday evening and it was spectacular. First of all, you just can't go wrong with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and the Orchestra at Temple Square. They alone are great, Great, GREAT! But when you add three singing stars on top of that and hundreds of flag-bearing Boy Scouts, and a few other things, the night gets even better.

Before Friday I had never heard of Dallyn Vail Bayles. While I appreciate good music and theater, it's not like we go every week or every month. We're not season ticket holders or anything. He's a great singer and I enjoyed whatever else he sang. However, I REALLY enjoyed one particular performance.

Dallyn sang Bring Him Home from Les Miserables. As I stated on Facebook, I'm pretty sure I went into a transcendental hypnotic state and may have even stopped breathing. It was that incredible. I can't begin to describe what I got out of it, but I was so impressed at his flawless interpretation, his brilliant notes, and his incredibly controlled breathing. I just had to email Dallyn.

So I did. And he emailed back! Such a humble fellow, mentioning everyone else's performances. No, Buddy, I was talking about your performance. I watched a recording of the concert on television and when we got to Bring Him Home I kept thinking, "This can't possibly be as good as it was live." Wrong. I sat on the sofa and cried. I wondered how someone could sing so flawlessly. I feel like the Spirit of the Lord most certainly combined with Dallyn's natural talent and hard work to guard against any flaw.

So glad we got to go!