Trans-Siberian Orchestra is returning to its roots with a new staging of the album that started it all.

“Christmas Eve and Other Stories” sold more than 3 million copies and launched the holiday touring machine that has been seen by more than 16 million fans since 1999.

TSO will make its first appearance in Youngstown since 2016 with two shows Friday at the Covelli Centre. It also will be the first local TSO shows since the death of its creator, Paul O’Neill, in 2017.

Guitar player Al Pitrelli and drummer Jeff Plate have been with TSO since its inception, and the duo participated in a telephone press conference in advance of the tour kick off. Here are some of the highlights (comments have been edited for clarity).

The decision to bring back “Christmas Eve and Other Stories”

Plate: “This is something that Paul had actually been talking about doing before we lost Paul a couple years ago. He realized that this story was probably the most significant one in our catalog. You know, ‘Christmas Eve and Other Stories’ was released in 1996, and that is really the CD that put us on the map. It has sold the best.

“We toured that story for the first 12 years of our touring existence, so this is what really made a mark with the fans all across the country. And it has always been a fan favorite, and a band favorite, I can personally say it’s my favorite story that we’ve done.

“I think the popularity of the show in the first place is one thing, but over the past several years, our production has just grown tremendously and improved tremendously. So this time when you see Christmas Eve and Other Stories, it’s going to be a completely different show.”

How this production be different than past tours featuring “Christmas Eve”

Plate: “I think the last time we did ‘Christmas Eve and Other Stories’ was in 2011, and we had a massive production at that point. But now it literally fills up the whole arena. We have a stage that expands the width of the arena, plus there’s production all the way out past the front of the house.

“The main differences, I would say, are the video. The video content that we’ve been using the past several years. it’s become so brilliant and fantastic, it just completely changes the dynamic of the show. Plus, the team that designs the video have really just stepped it up over the past couple years.

“Two years ago when we were doing ‘The Ghosts of Christmas Eve,’ the design that Bryan Hartley came out with was just fantastic, and it took several steps beyond the year before and it’s kind of improved in those increments ever since … Everybody’s just really stepped up their game.”

How the musicians and singers prepare for each holiday tour

Pitrelli: “We’re not just a rock band or a classical orchestra or a theatrical presentation of Paul’s work, we’re bringing these characters to life. So everybody’s been digging in for a while, you know, doing their homework, learning the parts and examining the characters involved. We work, I don’t know, a couple months individually and in small ensemble groups musically.

Now, (during October production rehearsals), that’s when it really comes to life. We’ll run the show about 40 or 50 times before the down beat of our first show on Nov. 13. Because what’s paramount, or was paramount to Paul, and is paramount to his family and everybody involved, is that every show is a perfect first show.

“We’re not going to kick the tires on just two or three shows and say, ‘Ah, that didn’t work.’ We’re going to know from the jump exactly what it’s going to look like, how it’s going to be presented production wise and musically.

“And again, at the center of it all is Paul’s characters and this beautifully written story that he came up with. These characters and this story, Jeff and I and everybody else in the organization, we’ve grown up with these.

“Twenty-five years ago, I was 32, this meant something different to me then than it does now. Now, as a 57-year-old father of five, when ‘Ornament’ or ‘This Christmas Day’ or any of these songs is presented live, I have children that I don’t get to see that often, it resonates with me, just like it resonates with everybody in the audience.”

Memories of the first TSO tour in 1999

Plate: “We walked out on that stage with more questions than answers, and nerves.

“I remember standing on the side of the stage with our bassist, Johnny Middleton, I had a knot in my stomach, Johnny was twitching from head to toe. (In front of the stage was) this elderly couple, he was wearing a tuxedo and she had this beautiful red dress on, (and) they were probably 65, 70 years old. And, Johnny and I looked at each other and said, ‘We are doomed.’ And we walked out there and it was just magic.

“Al mentioned the diversity of that first audience and it carried over into the second, and the third, and the forth and here we are, 21 years later, and it really is about the same percentage of age groups, musical genres, you name it; everybody’s in that audience.

“But, yeah, we were much younger; we were excited; we were nervous and, boy, it was a whole new ballgame when we walked on that stage. But, you know what, we pulled it off and we’re here to talk about it, so all is good.”

Pitrelli: “One of the first things that Paul taught us way back when, when we were recording is he said, ‘Listen, just try to make great art, OK? Just try to make the best of this as what you can and everything, with a little bit of luck, will fall into place.’

“Now, those words meant a lot when he said it, because we all kind of looked at each other and said, ‘All right, fine, let’s just concentrate on doing something artistic and it’s never been done before.’

“But, boy, those words came true every time we hit the stage in that first down beat because with that, his integrity, his work ethic way back when, has carried us, like Jeff just said, 21 years of touring, 25 years of recording. And, with his family at the helm and with everybody’s dedication to this, there’s really no end in sight.”

Favorite songs to play live

Pitrelli: “If I had to pick one, I would say ‘Ornament’ or ‘This Christmas Day.’ Two of my five children are in the Armed Forces. I’m so proud of them and, at the same time, they’re my little babies and I’m terrified every moment of every day, because of what they do for a living.

“So when our singers sing ‘Ornament,’ which is a song about a father pleading for the safe return of his daughter — he hasn’t seen her, she ran away from home on Christmas Eve — it resonates just so deep in my heart and my soul because in the back of my mind, again, having five children, three of them are home safe and two of them are not.”

Plate: “I think the one song, without doubt, for me that I love to play and, honestly, we would not be here without it, is ‘Christmas Eve / Sarajevo 12/24.’ Because that is the song that when we jump into that tune and behind the drum kit and start that drum pattern, the audience just lights up, the room lights up and it’s a standing ovation every time we play that song. So, I mean, that’s the one for me that really gets me going during the show.”

Continuing without Paul O’Neill

Plate: “Everybody knew Paul and respected Paul and what was involved in this tour, but losing Paul also reminded us all just how fragile everything is. And I think it really put everybody on their toes, myself included, that, hey, we have to be just as good, if not better than ever, to make sure this thing keeps going in the right direction, and it was a real wake-up call.

“It was, obviously, heartbreaking like you can’t even imagine, but it really became aware to all of us that we needed to be as good as possible to keep this thing going. Because we’ve all had a big hand in the success of it.

“Where I miss Paul is in rehearsal, watching him run around, pointing at a light that might be the wrong color or out of focus, or somebody’s in the wrong position on stage; he had this insane energy to make the thing perfect. And that carried over with all of us and, I think, a lot of us have learned that and carried this on without even thinking about it now.”

Pitrelli: “I miss him every moment of every day. I can only imagine what his wife and his daughter feel like, and the rest of his immediate family.

“But playing these songs, standing on stage, sitting in rehearsal and re-learning them, in my bedroom when I’m getting ready to go to work, I could tell you every moment of the recording process. I could tell you what he was wearing, what we were eating, what we were laughing about, what we were arguing about, what the studio looked like, smelled like, everything about it; so, it immediately takes me back to the origins of this whole thing.

“And that’s really bittersweet. A lot of times I’ll smile because it was some of the greatest times in my life and other times, I can’t help but tear up because when you miss somebody, there’s no negotiating with that. But what I do have, is I have those memories and his smile, and those big blue eyes of his that are in my heart and soul for the rest of my life.

“My two baby girls never had the privilege of meeting Paul, but they will know everything about the man, and he will live forever through them, as well. So in my definition of heaven, that’s eternal right there.”

xxxx

WHO: Trans-Siberian Orchestra

WHEN: 3:30 and 7:30 p.m. Friday

WHERE: Covelli Centre, 229 E. Front St., Youngstown

HOW MUCH: Tickets range from $49.50 to $79.50.