Celebrating Summer Love & Music with The Rainbow Chorale

By Guest Blogger, Christine Facciolo
Christine holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Music and continues to apply her voice to all genres of music. An arts lover since childhood, she currently works as a freelance writer.

The winter gear is packed away. The sun is shining. And the beach is just a drive away. Summer is a-comin’ in, and The Rainbow Chorale of Delaware welcomed the season on June 30 at the Arden Gild Hall with a program that swept away any lingering memories of the winter we thought would never end.

There was something for everyone in this concert — and that’s before mentioning the raffle, the food and the goodies for sale. What better way to start the program than with a medley of summer anthems from the Beach Boys. The ensemble had Fun, Fun, Fun with In My Room and California Girls (or Guys, depending).  Delaware Baby Boomers probably recalled the first time they heard those tunes played on the radio station of their youth: 1380 WAMS.

Fans of Disney’s Oscar-winning animated film Frozen got treated to a performance of In Summer, as “Olaf” merrily danced along, eagerly anticipating summer but blissfully ignorant as to what the heat had in store for him.

Denise Conner, Evan M. Malin, Chris Phelan and Barbara Williams extolled the powers of strychnine and cyanide, ably demonstrating the black humor in Tom Lehrer’s Poisoning Pigeons in the Park.

The imagery in the Tepper-Bennett penned Summer Sounds was rendered all the more nostalgic by the a capella quartet of Tony Adubato, Michael A. Bareham, Anthony M. Condoluci and Michael Hovendick. Their voices were smooth and melodic, and blended remarkably well.

The mood got a bit more serious when sopranos Anne Shuman Urban and Cynthia E. Robinson stepped into the spotlight for their solos. Shuman Urban applied her crystalline voice and expansive range to Gershwin’s Summertime, while Robinson delivered a powerful interpretation of Summer Me, Winter Me.

The ‘60s were again represented with selections like Under the Boardwalk, Those Lazy, Hazy Crazy Days of Summer and Dancing in the Street. And what summer concert would be complete without a performance of Alan Sherman’s classic, Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh? This one did not disappoint!

Yanaka Bernal assumed the role of the jilted lover in her rendition of Runaround Sue. Her loyal and faithful friends offered support and backup vocals, until “Sue” in the person of Robinson strutted by taking one as conquest.

The Great American Songbook got its due with a performance of Irving Berlin’s Blue Skies. Spirited performances of Summer Nights from the legendary Grease soundtrack and the B-52's Love Shack rounded out the program. Collaborative pianist Andre Vermeulen capably handled accompanist duties and revealed talents on the accordion as well.

The Chorale’s volunteer coordinator, Josh Yoder, served as “lifeguard/emcee,” sauntering onstage between selections, bantering with the audience and reading with utmost expression water-safety tips from the American Red Cross and The Onion—while never passing up the opportunity to supply a well-placed double entendre or observation.

See www.therainbowchorale.org. 

DVC Celebrates a Legacy

By Guest Blogger, Christine Facciolo
Christine holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Music and continues to apply her voice to all genres of music. An arts lover since childhood, she currently works as a freelance writer. 

You don’t have to be an Anglophile to know that the Western choral tradition owes an enormous debt to Britain. From the Renaissance to today, works by British composers have become the mainstay of the world’s choral repertoire.  

The DelawareValley Chorale dipped into the vastness of this centuries-old tradition to close its 2013-14 season on Saturday at The Episcopal Church of Saints Andrew& Matthew in Wilmington with a concert titled “The English Choral Legacy.” The sound was so glorious and the program so well-chosen that one only hopes the group will revisit this literature in the not-too-distant future.

Two works by composer C. Hubert H. Parry bookended the concert. Hear my words, ye people, was composed for the Festival of the Salisbury Diocesan Choral Association and was first performed in the Salisbury Cathedral on May 10, 1894. This extended anthem was meant to be sung by a gathering of parish choirs so the choral parts are within the reach of most choirs. The more technically demanding music is reserved for the soloists and organ. Soprano Lauren Conrad Giza, baritone Bill Gross and organist David Hearn did not disappoint. The final section of the quarter-hour work featured the SsAM Choral Scholars, with the resulting contrast of choral sonorities suggestive of a choral “concerto.”

Blest pair of sirens, Parry’s rip-roaring setting of John Milton’s poem Ode to a Solemn Musick concluded the concert. The highlight of the piece is the “big tune” to the words "O may we soon again renew that song” which spreads from the sopranos to the whole choir, then turns into fugue on "To live with him," which again reverts back to a homophonic texture of the final bars. The performance was one magnificent arch of music, bringing the audience to its feet with calls for an encore.

The other major piece of the first half was Come ye, sons of art, Ode to the birthday of Queen Mary II in 1694, by Henry Purcell, arguably Britain’s greatest composer. Soprano Conrad Giza and baritone Gross were joined by countertenors Augustine Mercante and Daniel Moody, whose superb voices, diction and style were a delight.

The balance of the concert included four madrigals ably executed by the SsAM Choral Scholars. The Chorale returned after the intermission with three songs by Arthur S. Sullivan, perhaps better known for writing a few operettas with a partner named Gilbert. The 20th Century got its due with Jubilate Deo, one of Benjamin Britten’s best known and most often performed short choral works. Hearn provided a rhythmically spirited organ accompaniment to the chorale’s direct vocal phrases and the piece bubbled with the joyous mood of the words.

See www.delawarevalleychorale.org.

The Reedy Point Players Stay Gold with "The Outsiders"

It's not often that I venture south of Wilmington for theater. I go see the Chapel Street Players in Newark on occasion, and I've enjoyed productions at Middletown's Everett Theatre now and then, but one Delaware community theater I had yet to check out was the Reedy Point Players in Delaware City. When I heard they were doing "The Outsiders," based on the book by S.E. Hinton (one of my favorites in any medium), I decided it was time to make the short trip. Just under 30 minutes from Wilmington, RPP is tiny (never a bad thing in my book), utilizing the community center space in the Delaware City Library. "The Outsiders," directed by Erin Miller, centers on Ponyboy Curtis, a bookish 14 year old in 1960s Oklahoma who also happens to run with a gang of greasers -- the poor kids in town who are in a seemingly never-ending battle with a gang of "socs" (rich kids). For Ponyboy, the gang is really just the guys he knows from the neighborhood who look out for each other. He keeps out of trouble, not just because he's a good, honest kid, but also because trouble would mean he'd be removed from the custody of his older brother Darry, who had taken the responsibility of raising him and middle brother Sodapop after their parents' deaths. Unfortunately, trouble finds Ponyboy and his best friend Johnny, a broken boy with a surprisingly old soul. As Ponyboy, Middletown High sophomore Brandon Dawson conveys the character's juxtaposition as the exceptionally intelligent, kind of nerdy kid in the slicked-back hair and blue jeans that defined him as a hoodlum in his time. Any good Ponyboy needs a Johnny who is just as convincing, and Sean Wagner is spot on in what is probably the most challenging role in the play. It's crucial that the audience cares about Johnny, and he, without a doubt, pulled it off. Kevin Austra's Dallas, the bad-boy greaser who would do anything for his friends, hit the right notes, and Dan Davis captured the wisecracking Two-Bit perfectly. Matthew Furman as Darry towers over Dawson, making him an especially imposing figure, especially when he's angry -- but the love he has for his youngest brother came through. Derek Pinchot as Soda and Heather Mickles as Sandy round out the greasers. The socs are a less sympathetic gang, but Cherry Valance (Lauren Bailey), Marcia (Molly Kiefer) and Randy (Max O'Neill) show that they're not monsters, just kids who for the most part are tired of fighting too. They don't really grasp that their upper middle class struggles aren't equivalent to the struggles of the disadvantaged greasers, but Randy points out that the sadistic soc Bob (John Bolduc) was probably the way he was due to being overly spoiled by his parents. It's fair to say there are issues all around. "The Outsiders" combines coming-of-age with tragedy, a story of violence, consequences, heroism and hope that continues to move young readers (and watchers) -- and it translates remarkably well to the stage. RPP's take on it was worth the trip.