Outage Grounds ‘Glory’ Angels

The flying angels of “The Glory of Christmas” were temporarily grounded Saturday when a transformer failed in the Crystal Cathedral, forcing the cancellation of an afternoon performance of the Christmas pageant and delaying two evening shows.

Cathedral officials said the 1 p.m. outage resulted in chaos for the cast--including an assorted menagerie--and crew in the extravagant production, a $2-million retelling of the birth of Christ.

“It was total panic,” said Crystal Cathedral Manager Terry Larson. “We were trying to talk to people with tickets. . . . The crews were running around trying to fix it.”

Some 3,000 people who had bought tickets to the 4:30 p.m. performance had to be turned away. The show was cancelled after a transformer that controls all of the theatrical lighting failed. Two later shows were delayed an hour.

“We have four emergency generators, but they can’t handle all of the theatrical lighting that goes on with the show,” Larson said.

The elaborate show includes a live menagerie of lambs, goats, sheep, horses, donkeys, an ox and a cow, plus eight angels suspended by wires to fly through the cathedral’s expanse.