Much of Patrick Sinozich's musical life has been tied to the Chicago Gay Men's Chorus ( CGMC ). Since 1997, Sinozich has been CGMC's artistic director, following a stint from 1988 to 1992 as a rehearsal accompanist. ( Sinozich also briefly served as an interim director of the Windy City Gay Chorus, too. )
In nearly two decades leading CGMC, Sinozich said he oversaw upwards of 50 complete productions. The latest is the showtune-packed Bouncing Off the Walls: Broadway Our Way with upcoming performances in Skokie, Chicago and Naperville. ( The show debuted May 3 in Rockford. )
But earlier this season, Sinozich announced his plans to step down from CGMC by December 2014. So if you've loved CGMC's past campy choral extravaganzas focused on Broadway music, this is your last chance to see one helmed by Sinozich.
"The decision kind of has to do with wanting to do some other projects, some other things that I've had at the back of my mind," said Sinozich about leaving CGMC, adding that he's keeping his other jobs as a music director a church in Lincoln Park and as an accompanist for the Chicago Symphony Chorus. "I need to create some time and some space in my life so that I can explore."
Sinozich said he hopes to do some more composing away from his many musical arrangements he provided for CGMC, and to perform more as a pianist if possible. But Sinozich added he isn't completely cutting ties with CGMC, since the organization has started a kind of alumni association to keep former members in the loop.
For instance, some veterans of CGMC might be curious to know why the chorus' latest Broadway revue isn't tied to the Chicago video bar Sidetrack, like in previous editions.
"The big thing is that we're not re-creating the numbers a la Sidetrack," said Sinozich, highlighting the fact that the show is only focused on new musicals like Kinky Boots or Newsies and acclaimed revivals like Pippin that have played on Broadway within the past 10 years. "We wanted instead to present the numbers in a way that they struck us, so some have a similar approach to Broadway, while others are redefined by the way they're being staged and choreographed. The subtitle of the show is Broadway Our Way."
Although Sinozich isn't on the search committee to find his replacement, he is taking an active part in rewriting the CGMC artistic director job description to better reflect all the duties it has come to entail under his leadership.
"What I'm kind of hoping is that they find someone to be the new artistic director who can take them to the next level dramatically, because I think there's a lot of things that could be done with the chorus to address political issues within the content of the show," Sinozich said. "Showtunes, pop music and lighter music—that's going to continue because that's what people like, but at the same time, there are other choruses out there doing innovative programming. There's a show on Harvey Milk that somebody commissioned and that is making the circuit now, so something like that which could also be interesting to the chorus members and the public."
When asked about one of his most memorable moments leading CGMC, Sinozich cited a 2006 Sondheim-themed concert with the Chicago Children's Choir at Millennium Park's Pritzker Pavilion, which was disrupted near the end by anti-gay protesters.
"One of the songs that we had in our repertoire that we hadn't sung was a rewrite of 'I'm Still Here,' which was 'We're Still Here,' and the words were basically no matter what you do to us, we're still here no matter how much you protest," Sinozich said. "So instead of yelling back at them, we sang to them and the audience was thrilled. It was one of those perfect moments when music can strike a tone that is non-confrontational but does say a message at the same time."
Remaining performances of Chicago Gay Men Chorus' concerts of Bouncing Off the Walls: Broadway Our Way are at 8 p.m. Saturday, May 17, at the North Shore Center for the Performing Arts, 9501 Skokie Blvd., Skokie; 8 p.m. Saturday, May 31, at Millennium Park's Harris Theater for Music and Dance, 205 E. Randolph St.; and at 8 p.m. Sunday, June 1, at North Central College's Wentz Concert Hall, 717 E. Chicago Ave., Naperville. Tickets are $20-$50; visit www.cgmc.org or call 773-296-0541 for more information.
Editor's note: Scott C. Morgan is a member of the Windy City Gay Chorus and has also previously performed in Chicago Gay Men's Chorus concerts in 2004, 2007 and 2008.
Tony! Tony! Tony!
The 2014 Tony Award nominations were announced April 29, and there are some LGBTQ nominees of note.
Out playwrights Harvey Fierstein and Terrence McNally are both nominated in the category of Best Play. Fierstein is behind the drama Casa Valentina, which is based on an actual resort where heterosexual men would go to safely express their need to wear women's clothing in the 1950s and '60s. With Mothers and Sons, McNally has written a sequel to the short play and television drama Andre's Mother to examine many of the major shifts in LGBTQ rights in America.
Now that he's finished with How I Met Your Mother, out star Neil Patrick Harris has returned to Broadway with an eight-time Tony Award-nominated revival of Hedwig and the Angry Inch—and has been nominated for Best Actor in a Musical.
The late Tennessee Williams' The Glass Menagerie has scored seven nominations, including ones for Best Revival of a Play and a Best Actress nod for out actress Cherry Jones.
The Tony Awards celebrating the best of Broadway theater in New York will be broadcast on CBS at 7 p.m. Sunday, June 8. For more information and a complete list of nominees, visit www.tonyawards.com .
