Pictured The choruses of Windy City Performing Arts mark WCPA's 25th anniversary. Photos #1 - 3 by Jorjet Harper and #4 - 5 Tracy Baim
The Windy City Gay Chorus (WCGC) celebrated its 25th anniversary on Saturday, June 26 at the Athenaeum Theater with its Pride Week concert, 'Silver Tones and Stuffed Shirts,' conducted by WCGC Music Director Ron Guthrie. The Windy City Slickers and the mixed lesbian and gay chorus Unison joined with the WCGC to provide a delightful evening of music and pride.
I confess it's been several years since I've been to a gay choral concert, but I'm very glad I went to this one. It had moments of sweetness, and strength, and sadness, and musical virtuosity, and as any really good musical event should, it left one feeling moved and wanting to hear more. The concert was a thoughtfully constructed, well-balanced program of entertainment, celebration, and political activism, and a very satisfying way to celebrate the eve of Pride Sunday.
Among the highlights was a touching mixed-media musical retrospective. As the WCGC sang 'Sanctus' and 'Lux aeterna' from John Rutter's *Requiem*, video and still images from the chorus's amazing 25-year history of music-making, activism and camaraderie were projected on a screen. The chorus was joined by Claire Bigley at the piano and flautists Lisa Goethe-McGinn and Judith Grubner. The names of chorus members who have passed on was integrated quite beautifully into the visual imagery; it was a moving tribute and remembrance.
Of course Broadway had to be represented in the show—with the appropriate gay-subtextual selections 'Love is Sweeping the Country', 'We Kiss in the Shadows,' 'Unusual Way', and 'With a Song in My Heart' (with bouncy diva Janene Bergen). The Gershwins, Rogers, Hammerstein, and Hart would have been pleased. In the second half of the program, the WCGC featured several songs on the theme of the sea. 'What Shall we Do with the Drunken Sailor' was particularly high-spirited and musically well-knit.
Themes of gay politics and gay experience were nicely woven into the evening's musical mix, in positive, encouraging ways, as perfectly befits the mission of an openly gay musical group. 'Hold Strong Together', with a beautiful solo by baritone Gary Roebuck, was especially uplifting. Douglas S. Williams did impressive work as the chorus's accompanist.
Unison, under the direction of Dr. Wilbert O. Watkins, sang a wide range of material including the anthem 'We Are Everywhere,' Ralph Vaughan Williams' 'The Lover's Ghost' and a lovely version of Joseph Martin's richly textured 'The Awakening.' Soprano Kim Robinson brought the house down with her solo in 'My Soul's Been Anchored in the Lord.' Unison also gave the audience a spirited Hallelujah, with Jessica Valeri on French horn.
The Windy City Slickers' performed a tribute to the WCGC that included a campy medley of songs from 1979, the year the WCGC was founded, including such memorable tunes as 'Hot Stuff', 'I Will Survive', and 'MacArthur Park' with its unfailingly laugh-inducing cake left out in the rain. They wrapped up this blast from the past with a rousing rendition of the Village People's classic 'YMCA.' Unison and the Windy City Slickers together rendered a more serious choral 'Happy Birthday' salute to the WCGC.
There were a few very minor procedural mishaps of the sort that tend to happen during a one-evening-only show; the houselights went up before the last song of the first set, giving some in the audience the idea that it was intermission time. So there was a bit of a hubbub when people had to resume their seats. Far from being a hindrance, these little technical glitches actually added a few extra touches of warmth and amusement to the evening.
The concert closed with a song for everyone to sing together. Former members of the chorus were invited up on stage, and the audience, too, joined in for the inspirational 'Walk Hand in Hand.'
Windy City Performing Arts, the parent organization of WCGC, will be traveling to Montreal later this summer, as the chorus will perform in the international GALA Festival, joining over a hundred GLBT musical groups. At that event, the Windy City Gay Chorus will be honored as one of the longest-standing gay choruses in the country.
But Chicagoans will have another opportunity to see the Windy City Gay Chorus before then. On Friday, July 9 and Saturday, July 10 they will perform in a joint concert with the Chicago Gay Men's Chorus and Schola Cantorosa, the gay men's chorus of Hamburg, Germany. It should be another memorable gay musical event, and will also take place at the Athenaeum Theatre, 2936 N. Southport Ave. For more information on that concert, call the Athenaeum box office, (773) 935-6860, CGMC (773) 296-0541, or see ticketmaster.com, (312) 902-1500.
