The Chicago Free Press Review of the show
Chicago Free Press
Midwest Pride: Chicago Gay Men's Chorus Pride Concert
Reviewed By Lawrence Bommer Contributing writer
Pride presumes brotherhood. Both were made manifest last weekend at the Athenaeum Theatre in a musical partnership between our Chicago Gay Men's Chorus and the 100-strong Heartland Men's Chorusfrom Kansas City. These ensembles explored every side of Pride-personal, public and perpetual.
Directed by Patrick Sinozich and sporting pink ties, CGMC indulged their famous forte for feel-good anthems and Broadway homage, opening with "But Alive." This rambunctious selection from "Applause," a musical that debuted a year after Stonewall, depicts diva Margo Channing, her hairdresser and his pals in a Greenwich Village gay bar. (This was, we're told, the first depiction of gay life in a Broadway musical." Or was it "The Ritz"?) A welcome blast from the past.
Happily showing off, CGMC delivered Sinozich's clap-happy treatment of Gershwin's "I Got Rhythm," the intricately spoken "Geographical Fugue," an achingly tender (or just plain slow) version of "Where Is Love?," and Leonard Bernstein's curiously uplifting setting of a posthumous gay poem by Walt Whitman.
Pushing the pizzazz were "Into The Fire," a cheeky chorale from "The Scarlet Pimpernel," and a steamy medley of heat numbers, climaxed by a funky three-man fan dance.
A rich ensemble with a very full sound, the Heartland Men's Chorus, led by Joseph P. Nadeau, presented a spirited program that ranged from Elton John's "Circle of Life" (complete with animal imitations) to an ardent "When I Fall in Love."
HMC acted out every eccentricity in Sam Pottle's setting of "Jabberwocky," pulling out colorful props to drive it home.
Graced with a lovely solo by Don D. White, "One Voice" (from the "Sing for the Cure" cantata by Joseph M. Martin) earned its title as the Heartland Men displayed impressive vocal control and texture. "We're Not Lost" and "Prayer for the Children" were expressively sung and contagiously felt.
Interestingly, the chorus also performed a favorite of Windy City Gay Chorus, Eric Lane Barnes' "Parade," a tribute to the diversity of the annual procession and the need to consider it a constant.
Joining ranks, the massed singers filled the stage to bursting as they tore into Sigmund Romberg's infectious "Stouthearted Men," the gay choral standard "Everything Possible" (which ends in a apotheosis of tolerance) and a campy version of the Gershwins' "Let's Call The Whole Thing Off." Happily, they didn't.
(And the answer to his question regarding The Ritz is no. It came out in 1974...four years after Applause.)
This is an email from Ray Wohl a great friend of mine from CGMC, regarding the past weekend in Chicago
HI Bill Rosen,
I adore your web site and all the links. I wandered my way through several pages and links. You are prolific. I enjoyed the quotes, the chicago link, the photos. and browsing in some other areas. Interesting how you keep expanding your universe.
Here's a quote:
"You're unique, just like everybody else!"
Bill, you and Richard seem very content together..I am happy for you. He is such a talent and a cutie too. Heartland stole and show...and we let you.(That statement just KILLS me....we let you?....no..we just stole the show...PERIOD!
Thanks for the thrill of visiting your web page.
Happy Summer. Until our paths cross a gain.
Hugs,
Ray Wohl
Midwest Pride: Chicago Gay Men's Chorus Pride Concert
Reviewed By Lawrence Bommer Contributing writer
Pride presumes brotherhood. Both were made manifest last weekend at the Athenaeum Theatre in a musical partnership between our Chicago Gay Men's Chorus and the 100-strong Heartland Men's Chorusfrom Kansas City. These ensembles explored every side of Pride-personal, public and perpetual.
Directed by Patrick Sinozich and sporting pink ties, CGMC indulged their famous forte for feel-good anthems and Broadway homage, opening with "But Alive." This rambunctious selection from "Applause," a musical that debuted a year after Stonewall, depicts diva Margo Channing, her hairdresser and his pals in a Greenwich Village gay bar. (This was, we're told, the first depiction of gay life in a Broadway musical." Or was it "The Ritz"?) A welcome blast from the past.
Happily showing off, CGMC delivered Sinozich's clap-happy treatment of Gershwin's "I Got Rhythm," the intricately spoken "Geographical Fugue," an achingly tender (or just plain slow) version of "Where Is Love?," and Leonard Bernstein's curiously uplifting setting of a posthumous gay poem by Walt Whitman.
Pushing the pizzazz were "Into The Fire," a cheeky chorale from "The Scarlet Pimpernel," and a steamy medley of heat numbers, climaxed by a funky three-man fan dance.
A rich ensemble with a very full sound, the Heartland Men's Chorus, led by Joseph P. Nadeau, presented a spirited program that ranged from Elton John's "Circle of Life" (complete with animal imitations) to an ardent "When I Fall in Love."
HMC acted out every eccentricity in Sam Pottle's setting of "Jabberwocky," pulling out colorful props to drive it home.
Graced with a lovely solo by Don D. White, "One Voice" (from the "Sing for the Cure" cantata by Joseph M. Martin) earned its title as the Heartland Men displayed impressive vocal control and texture. "We're Not Lost" and "Prayer for the Children" were expressively sung and contagiously felt.
Interestingly, the chorus also performed a favorite of Windy City Gay Chorus, Eric Lane Barnes' "Parade," a tribute to the diversity of the annual procession and the need to consider it a constant.
Joining ranks, the massed singers filled the stage to bursting as they tore into Sigmund Romberg's infectious "Stouthearted Men," the gay choral standard "Everything Possible" (which ends in a apotheosis of tolerance) and a campy version of the Gershwins' "Let's Call The Whole Thing Off." Happily, they didn't.
(And the answer to his question regarding The Ritz is no. It came out in 1974...four years after Applause.)
This is an email from Ray Wohl a great friend of mine from CGMC, regarding the past weekend in Chicago
HI Bill Rosen,
I adore your web site and all the links. I wandered my way through several pages and links. You are prolific. I enjoyed the quotes, the chicago link, the photos. and browsing in some other areas. Interesting how you keep expanding your universe.
Here's a quote:
"You're unique, just like everybody else!"
Bill, you and Richard seem very content together..I am happy for you. He is such a talent and a cutie too. Heartland stole and show...and we let you.(That statement just KILLS me....we let you?....no..we just stole the show...PERIOD!
Thanks for the thrill of visiting your web page.
Happy Summer. Until our paths cross a gain.
Hugs,
Ray Wohl
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