The Magic of Lights at DTE Energy Music Theatre

Twinkling lights, a chill in the air, light the Christmas tree, deck the halls and gather your loved ones and experience the Magic of Lights at DTE Energy Music Theatre. The Magic of Lights is a drive-through, high-tech Christmas lights spectacle that is making its return to Michigan. It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas, so don’t miss out, have yourselves a merry little Christmas, let your heart and your night be light and bright, and come along with the whole family and brighten up the night this holiday season.

Magic of Lights is a unique and dazzling drive-through holiday lights experience to celebrate this season, and is quickly turning into a new holiday tradition in these uncertain times. Pile everyone into the car and experience Magic of Lights from the safety and comfort of your own car as you wind through the sparkling path. All the lights are shining, brightly everywhere, a beautiful sight, at every turn, the magical route is overflowing with spectacular light displays that bring your favorite holiday themes and characters to life. featuring favorite holiday scenes and characters of the season using the latest LED technology and digital animations. Drive through this winter wonderland, it’s the most wonderful time of the year, the happiest season, bring your friends, your family, put on your favorite carols and experience the wonder of driving through our winter wonderland.

The holiday-season event, which has played annually in New York, Cleveland and several other markets, is a 1.5 mile display that includes more than 1 million lights set up in 40 different scenes, and involved a three-week setup at the Clarkston site. A magical twinkling, a wonderful glistening, a night of sparkling extraordinary magic featuring the latest LED technology, digital animations and other visual technologies, including the all new 200-foot drive-through Blizzard Tunnel that fully surrounds vehicles in colorful, gleaming lights, returning favorites including 12 Days of Christmas, Winter Wonderland, The Night Before Christmas, as well as nods to Hanukkah, the seasons of the year, sports, animals, and regions of the world.

Hear those sleigh bells or the accompanying music, which can be tuned in via an FM signal onsite, and the music differs at each location. Visitors tune in to a 40-minute loop of family holiday favorites, featuring a delightful mix of classics like Brenda Lee’s “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree,” but also includes Adam Sandler’s “Chanukah Song” and nods to Detroit’s musical legacy with tunes by Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, and Eddie Money, who opened the Music Theatre’s season annually before his passing last year.

Make your yuletide gay, gather near: the event opens on November 13 and runs through January 2, Magic of Lights will open each day at 5 p.m. and run through 10 p.m. Sunday to Thursday and until 11 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. Some exclusions may apply.

2021 brings Magic of Lights back for a second year to Michigan, uniquely designed for the theater’s parking lot space. The Magic of Lights concept was launched in 2016 in Cleveland and Ottawa, and now takes place in more than ten cities across the U.S. and Canada. Each display is different and tailored to maximize use of the various outdoor spaces. The production was inspired by the surprise success of Jurassic Quest, a drive-through dinosaur exhibition staged in the theater parking lot during summer of 2020, when the venue was unable to hold concerts. Jurassic Quest had over 125,000 people come out and experience the adventure, and the following Magic of Lights during the holiday season had amazing local reaction to the production, with tens of thousands of visitors in its first two weeks, and a record-breaking Thanksgiving with more than 3000 cars come through, entertaining a whopping 12, 000 people in one evening.