Philly Pops: the last Christmas Show. Or is it?

A deep, resonant round of boos isn’t the sort of thing you’re usually happy to hear at the Philly Pops (or any concert). But these weren’t jeers — rather, it was a wave of loss and love that sounded through Saturday’s audience after Pops music director David Charles Abell reminded them that the group will be disappearing at the end of the season.

If the crowd for this Pops holiday concert was in a state of pre-mourning, Abell offered them some salve. A Christmas show will happen next year with these same musicians, he said, under the banner of the Philadelphia Orchestra and Kimmel Center. Whether Philadelphia will have a pops ensemble the rest of next season remains unclear.

It could be that it’s not legal to launch the holidays around here until the Pops has hung out its great big musical bow. The annual variety show has been running for decades.

And yet you couldn’t help feel at Saturday afternoon’s opening (following a Friday invitation-only preview for military, veterans, first responders and their families) that maybe it’s time for a refresh. Despite some strong ingredients — Broadway vocalists Mandy Gonzalez and Jordan Donica, and the Philadelphia Boys Choir, among them — a certain lack of surprise has beset this tradition.

And maybe even some blandness. True, “All I Want for Christmas is You” remains popular. But won’t it be stalking us enough on Spotify in the next few weeks without having to also face it in the concert hall?

Thank goodness for the African Episcopal Church of St. Thomas Gospel Choir led by Walt Blocker, which stepped in after intermission to kick the proceedings into high gear. We absolutely want nostalgia at the holidays, and the Mark Cumberland arrangement of “Silent Night” with Donica and the St. Thomas choir was that perfect tune of yore with a layer of new. Augmented by conga drums and a ‘70s-sounding orchestration, this is a version propelled by a driving rhythm and emotional chord changes. The periodic half-step-up modulations didn’t hurt, and neither did the visual of the gently swaying choir.

An arrangement of “Do You Hear What I Hear?” with the St. Thomas voices and Gonzalez kept the energy up. The song, written in 1962 as a plea for peace during the Cuban missile crisis, seemed apt in this Stephen K. Hand arrangement.

Anyone wanting a good dose of pure Christmas tradition won’t be disappointed by this iteration of the Pops Christmas show. Peter Richard Conte exploited the organ’s biggest fanfare possibilities in Keith Chapman’s bright and exuberant take on French carol “Bring a Torch, Jeanette, Isabella.” Like 1950s comfort food is how Abell described “There’s No Place Like Home for the Holidays” before launching into it with the enthusiastic Pops Festival Chorus, following with an audience sing-along (twinkly Santa hats in the chorus optional). There were a couple of pieces from the Christian Contemporary genre, a la Amy Grant.

Abell and his guests wove in elements of social commentary, or at least subtle cues for contemplation. Gonzalez broke into spoken voice in the middle of a song to acknowledge how difficult the past few years have been for nearly everyone.

Digging for conscience, Gonzalez and Donica engaged Santa in a little banter. Do we really need all those bikes and socks, or should we wish for gifts of humanity? Then came a performance of “Grown-Up Christmas List” by David Foster and Linda Thompson-Jenner, asking for no more wars and healing hearts.

Plumbing for deeper meaning might have even put a new light on Mariah Carey’s great contribution to the Christmas genre. To the extent that the Philly Pops’ impending disappearance stems from a COVID-era estrangement from some audiences, you could hear the words “All I Want for Christmas is You” as the group’s wish for more fans, and survival.

Additional performances: Dec. 7, 9, 10, 11, 14, 16 and 17 in Verizon Hall, Broad and Spruce Streets. Tickets are $35-$167, phillypops.org, 215-893-1999.