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credit:Lehigh Valley Music

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It was an astonishing sight: teen and ‘tween girls shrieking at and cheering someone singing traditional Christmas songs Friday at Stroudsburg’s Sherman Theater.

But this was an astonishing concert. “American Idol” runner-up David Archuleta sang so well in his holiday show – a little more than half of which was Christmas material – that he drew five standing ovations over his 17 songs in 90 minutes and often prompted spontaneous cheers and clapping mid-song.

Backed by a four-person band, he was by turn fun and great on pop material from his debut album; he was touching on covers such as Sting’s “Fields of Gold,” which he sang seated with just an acoustic guitarist backing him; and masterful on the classic yuletide songs.

In fact, the Christmas material more fully showcased Archuleta’s wonderful voice, and the audience reacted more enthusiastically to them.

Archuleta christmas 1 The show started with Archuleta bounding around the stage for a pop set: a great “Waiting for Yesterday,” holding long, strong, high notes on “A Little Too Not Over You” and emoting with his hands.

He sat at a piano for Five For Fighting’s “The Riddle” – a version that, better than the original, prompted the crowd to break into clapping and shrieks. His big hit “Crush” was a bit rushed, but he nailed the high note, then ended the song with another. He closed the first part of the show with a chilling “Prayer of the Children,” his singing nearly a cappella amid the stark piano accompaniment. It brought the first standing ovation.

Archuleta christmas 4 Archuleta’s still boyish (he turns 19 in a few days; the crowd sang “Happy Birthday” to him), but he’s gained a world of stage confidence since his first tour brought him to Allentown’s Crocodile Rock Café in March. He smiled often, spoke to the crowd and moved about the stage. He was much looser on “Zero Gravity” – he gave the audience permission to dance, and they did – and on “Don’t Let Go,” he improvised a nice coda.

In fact, it was the more immediate approach to the holiday classics – the one thing his “Christmas From The Heart” album was missing, with its reverent adherence – that helped make the holiday part of the show so successful.

After a brief break, he returned to the stage in black suit, singing his strong, poppy “Melodies of Christmas” on a stage bedecked with holiday lighting.

“Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” had as much swagger as Michael Buble. “Pat-a-pan,” which he sang in French, was kicked up a notch from the album. He was so emphatic on “Riu Riu Chiu,” which he sang in Spanish, that his face turned red.

But the amazing high notes of “Silent Night” brought spontaneous cheers, and a standing ovation.

Archuleta christmas 2 And the highlight was “Ave Maria,” a virtually perfect tenor voice singing his heart out in Latin. The high notes caused the audience to cheer and brought another standing ovation.

The closing “Feliz Navidad” got the crowd up and dancing and turned into a sing-along, and the encore “O Holy Night” brought screams and cheers for its soaring vocals, and yet another standing ovation.

The level of Archuleta’s talent, the breadth of styles he can master, the warmth he brings to a concert. Those were Christmas gifts, indeed.