Tears of Joy

Tuesday, July 10, 2012--Denver

The chorus festival is being held in a complex that has 3 theaters lined up that each holds about 2600 people.  Just outside is a galleria-type glass covering over the sidewalk with more smaller theaters opposite these.  Between concerts there are throngs of people in the galleria area.  The procedure is that a choir, when it finishes performing, walks through the lobby of the theater and then down the galleria to a point where a stage is set up to have their photo taken.  As they go through the lobby, exiting fans who have seen the performance start yelling and clapping.  Then as they go down the galleria, the crowds move to the side and continue to applaud them. It is quite common to see members of choruses wiping away tears of job.  Imagine what it must be like to perform before 1500-2600 people, receive several standing ovations, and then be applauded as you walk through the lobby and along the galleria!!  These are choirs that often have audiences at home of 100-250 and maybe 500 at the most.

Today's performances started out being fine, but the day ended with a bang, Bang, BANG!!!

Portland Gay Men's Chorus--They performed an hour-long concert starting at 9:30 with no competing concerts.  It was a full house.  They have a great reputation.  It's a large chorus with a good, strong sound.  Their show had three pieces that were popular.  One was a jazzy piece with several members performing a dance routine in suits with briefcases.  Another was Lambscapes which tells the story of Mary and her little lamb set to popular tunes by Handel, Schubert, Verdi, and Orff.  What should have been their showstopper was Dancing Queen.  It was good, but not good enough to get a gay crowd (which should be the easiest crowd of all) up dancing in the aisles and in front of their seats.  Click here for some of their videos.

The BEARatones (Seattle)--This is a quartet that sings as a comedy act.  They started with a skit where they were garbage men picking up trash left overnight in the Tiergarten.  As they sang, they pulled out the items they had collected--handcuffs with no key, worn thongs, used sex toys, etc.  Another of their more popular songs was about seeing a man and falling for him before hearing him speak.  The main line of the song was, "Oh the sorrow when you see Tarzan, but you hear Jane!"  They ended the show by stripping off their shirts and singing the song Bigger is Better.  Click here for some of their videos.

New Wave Singers of Baltimore--This is a small mixed group. One of the highlights was a bossa nova song We Are One Family.  I could not find any videos.

Juneau Pride Chorus--This is a women's group (at least as represented at GALA).  They had a nice sound.  One of the more interesting songs they did was a madrigal based on the ways women found pleasure in older days (before liberation).  Click here for a few of their videos.

San Diego Gay Men's Chorus--They are a large chorus and received a very enthusiastic welcome by the audience.  Their show was loud and popular, but it lacked pizazz.  Click here for some of their videos.

New Mexico Women's Chorus--A small and very relaxed group that created some beautiful sounds.  They did a nice version of Route 66 and a beautiful one of Shenandoah.  Click here for some of their videos.

I was about to give up on anything great happening today.  That's when the rest got exciting.

New Mexico Gay Men's Chorus--I didn't expect much from this chorus, but, wow, were they fun--a performance full of life and excitement.  They got more standing ovations than any other choir today--one for each except one song they sang.  They had no choreography; the key to their greatness was their soloists--lots of them and singing large portions of songs rather than just a line or two and then stepping back.  This was really a group of soloists with the biggest group of backup singers ever!  They also gave the GALA premier of the all-male version of the main song from the musical The Addam's Family which they premiered for the first time ever in one of their concerts last October.  Click here for some of their videos.

Turtle Creek Chamber Chorus (Dallas) (No web page just for this ensemble)--This is one SERIOUS choir (actually a 36-member ensemble from the larger Turtle Creek Chorale).  In fact, the woman sitting beside me and I discussed that aspect.  We guessed:  1)  They probably went through inspection before entering to make sure they looked perfect.  2)  It's likely they are instructed to never smile when singing.  3)  Rehearsals must be run like a military drill routine.  The result is a rather bland looking group that sounds fantastic by being precise and serious.  They got a full house expecting them to be great, and they were.  Not perfect (an occasional off note), but great.  Click here for some of their videos.  I could not find any videos of this specific group.

Seattle Men's Chorus--The full house remained to hear this 250-member group.  They began their performance with 1/3 of them on the stage, 1/3 of them in the middle of the orchestra, and another 1/3 of them behind the orchestra performing a piece that had an echo effect.  One of the most popular pieces involved all the Black members stepping to the front (about 9 of them) and talking about how they hate Christmas because there are never any people of color in any of the films or TV shows.  That lead to the choir singing Black Christmas with the words, "Why does Christmas have to be so white?" and "I like to dream of a Black Christmas."  They performed the ukulele version of Over the Rainbow with 9 of their members wearing leis and playing ukuleles.  For a finale, they sang Don't Knock It with a group of 8 of their members sitting on folding stools behind folding desks and doing a "hand" dance in which the hands slap, swipe, bump, etc., the desktops and their bodies.  It was a major choreographic effort that even including wave-like actions going down the line of performers.  Click here for some of their videos.

I would say that Seattle Men's Chorus gave the best overall performance today, that Turtle Creek Chamber Chorus gave the most precise performance, and that the New Mexico Gay Men's Chorus gave the most entertaining performance today.  If I were to see one again, I would choose the latter.

I was up early, because the Portland performance began at 9:30.  I went exploring the eastern side of downtown where the capital building is located.  I found a bakery and ate a scone while I continued to walk and enjoy the sunny, yet cool, morning.

Steps Walked--13,459