Tony Award-winning Broadway star Lillias White will sing the hip gospel and-blues version of Handel's "Messiah" -- Too Hot to Handel -- 8 PM Dec. 23 at Avery Fisher Hall in Manhattan.

Jazz, rock, gospel and rhythm and blues are incorporated into the Concordia Orchestra presentation, an annual event. Joining White (currently playing Dinah Washington in Off-Broadway's Dinah Was) are mezzo soprano Vivian Cherry, tenor Thomas Young, the Morgan State University Choir and the Concordia Orchestra (music-directed by Marin Alsop).

White won applause for her roles in Broadway's How to Succeed in Business... and The Life. She took home the Tony for Best Featured Actress in a Musical in 1997 for The Life.

George Friedrich Handel (1685-1759) wrote his famed Christian oratorio in 1741.

Avery Fisher Hall is at Broadway at 65th Street in Lincoln Center. Tickets are $16-$50. For information, call (212) 721-6500.