By Mike Bush
575magazine.com editor
A local choir on its way to perform at Carnegie Hall will make a stop on Broadway next weekend.
The choir, which includes the Chancel Choir of the First United Methodist Church and the Eastern New Mexico University-Roswell Chorale, will perform a musical revue, “From Broadway to Carnegie Hall,” Sept. 26-27 at the Performing Arts Center at Eastern New Mexico University-Roswell. Performances are at 7 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 26, and 3 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 27.
The choir is asking a $10 donation per ticket. Proceeds will help defray the costs of the choir’s trip to Carnegie Hall to be part of the June 14 performance of “Requiem” by Bradley Ellingboe, director of choral activities at the University of New Mexico.
The revue will include performances by the choir as well as individuals, ensembles and dance groups, according to choir director John Fuss. All music will be from Broadway shows. The choir will perform medleys from “South Pacific” and “Oklahoma” as well music from “Ain’t Misbehavin’,” “Showboat,” “42nd Street,” and “Les Miserables.”
Also performing will be the Rac-A-Taps from the Roswell Adult Center, The Enchanters, and the Sweet Leilani’s who will perform during the “South Pacific” medley. Steve Wolfe will sing “Old Man River” from “Showboat” and Wolfe and Rod Schumacher will sing the duet “Brush Up Your Shakespeare” from “Kiss Me, Kate.” Michele Olson also will perform “I Got Rhythm” from “Girl Crazy,” Fuss will sing “Send In the Clowns,” and some of the women from the choir will do “Cell Block Tango” from “Chicago.” Another group will sing George M. Cohan’s “Yankee Doodle Boy.”
Cost of the trip to New York City has been conservatively estimated at $2,000 per person. In addition to “From Broadway to Carnegie Hall,” the choir is scheduled to perform another review around Valentine’s Day and also is seeking grants and sponsorships.
Fuss said he now has 61 choir members who have committed to the New York Trip. The Roswell choir will join other singers from around the country to make up a 300-voice choir that will sing “Requiem.”
For tickets or more information, contact Fuss at First United Methodist Church, 622-1881, or on his cell phone at 626-9624.