Songs of the season will be showcased today at separate South Bay shows.

The music at two Christmas concerts today will be the familiar words and melodies of the season.

Backed by the recorded sounds of the London Symphony Orchestra, 36 crystalline boy soprano voices of The All-American Boys Chorus will fill the Norris Theatre for the Performing Arts with festive Christmas music, along with a song celebrating Hanukkah.

A few miles away, at El Camino College, veteran entertainers Pat Boone and Florence Henderson will make an evening out of show tunes, their own hits, children’s music and Christmas favorites.

If you want to catch both concerts, you can do it without being in two places at the same time. Both theaters have 8 p.m. performances tonight, but the Norris also has a 2 p.m. matinee today.

“Our show is a combination of happy, bouncy things, like ‘Santa Claus Is Coming to Town’ and ‘Jingle Bells,’ and some very lovely pieces with some substance to them,” said Father Richard Coughlin, a Roman Catholic priest who directs the boys chorus he founded 20 years ago at an Anaheim parish where he was serving.

Among the music with “substance” on the two-hour bill, he said, will be “Patie Jesu,” by Andrew Lloyd Webber, a piece by Gounod and “I’ll Be Home for Christmas,” which will salute American troops in Saudi Arabia. “We think it’s one of the most special things we’ve done. It’s beautifully arranged and orchestrated,” Coughlin said, adding that all background music for the show was specially recorded for the chorus by the London orchestra.

In honor of Hanukkah, the boys will also sing “Light the Candles,” Coughlin said. Started initially with 10 boys in a parochial school, the chorus began to grow in size and stature in 1974 when it moved from beneath the church’s wing and became a nonprofit community chorus.

But, according to Coughlin, one thing that has never changed is his emphasis on vocal training and quality singing. A one-time singer himself, Coughlin teaches all of the music, and vocal coach Richard Dastrup gives the boys regular voice lessons.

Although 9 is the ideal age for joining the chorus, any boy may audition. Youngsters must demonstrate basic musical talent and go through audition and training periods before becoming performers. Currently, 117 boys--ages 9 to 14--are involved in the group. Over the years, 500 to 600 boys have been in the chorus--leaving when they lose their soprano.

Coughlin said the chorus--which has an 80-song repertoire spanning pop standards, college fight songs, some classics and even Souza marches set to lyrics--has achieved an “open, full boy soprano sound. We’re proud of our vocal production.”

The chorus has been to Europe three times and has toured western Canada for the last 14 summers. The boys have performed on everything from an aircraft carrier to Fenway Park in Boston.

“The boys develop a close camaraderie and have adventures that other youngsters are not aware of,” Coughlin said, noting that the satisfaction of performing is also a reward. “They have to like to sing because they do an awful lot of it.”

-- The All-American Boys Chorus sings today at 2 and 8 p.m. at the Norris, Crossfield Drive and Indian Peak Road, Rolling Hills Estates. Admission is $15, and tickets are available at the box office or by calling 544-0403.

With their El Camino performance of “We Wish You a Merry Christmas,” Boone and Henderson end a four-week national tour that has taken them from Phoenix to Florida, with Midwest and East Coast stops in between.

The audience will not only hear the sounds of Christmas, but a collection of pop music and show tunes from Henderson and a reprise by Boone of the 1950s hits that sold more than 45 million records and sent him to the top of the Billboard chart for 200 consecutive weeks. They will be backed by a 12-piece orchestra.

Henderson’s musical visit to Broadway tonight will include selections from “The Phantom of the Opera” and “Cats.” On his trip back to his own hit parade, Boone will sing such signature tunes as “Bernadine,” “Love Letters in the Sand” and “Friendly Persuasion.”

The veteran performers will be joined by The Melloyds, four singers from Canada who will adapt their doo-wop stylings to the Christmas spirit. In a grand finale, a 45-member college chorus will join the headliners for traditional carols.

Joe Graydon, who is producing the show, said “We Wish You a Merry Christmas” will bring a bit of show-biz glamour to the holidays. “Florence wears a lot of gorgeous gowns, and Pat looks good in a white Western tuxedo,” he said. And, says Graydon, Boone still wears his trademark white buckskin shoes.

-- “We Wish You a Merry Christmas” will be performed tonight at 8 p.m. at El Camino’s Marsee Auditorium, Crenshaw and Redondo Beach boulevards, Torrance. Tickets are $18, $22 and $25 and are available at the box office or by calling 329-5345.