Monday, July 19, 2010

Looking Back on the July 15th Ft. Ward Show

Wow – it was a hot show! About 100 degrees. Big thanks to the guys who did the set up of risers and all of that. Dennis Ritchey worked hard to prepare the props for the show too. The in-house joke about this show always being rained out fizzled this year.

We had a huge turn out of singers and a decent crowd who came to the outdoor amphitheater at Ft. Ward for the free concert. This is part of a series of shows organized by the Alexandria Dept. of Recreation, Parks and Cultural Activities. They promote the event, provide sound and lights and welcome the audience. This year’s host was well coached about our recent success in Philly.

Directors Tony, Will and Joe did warm ups on the hill outside the theater. Then they filed down the path to the stage for the show opener. Scipio Garling set the stage for the show as opening MC. Dennis Ritchey did song introductions as did Class of 10 guy, Steve Lingo.

The chorus set a high level with their “Great Day” opener and the audience loved it. Our new contemporary acepella group, TBD, sang a couple songs and entertained the crowd with their enthusiasm. The “Ed Sullivan” number was a big hit too. All the antics with props went over just right. Tony’s solo was great as the cover for the antics. And the quartet doing the radio advertisement intro, Kellen Hertz, Brad Jones, Ken Ives and Eric Wallen, did a fine job. A gold star to Kellen who was handed the music on Tuesday nite and nudged to learn it!!

Good to hear the contest package again, even tho the audience was warned that we could not do all the stage work on the concrete, and little, stage.

A new chapter quartet, formed just for shows like this, sang two tunes – Rick Savage, Phil Ferguson, Joe Cerutti and Terry Reynolds.

Dennis thanked the City for their support and invited any men in the audience to come speak with a chorus member about joining us on Tuesday nites.

The finale number, “Stars and Stripes Forever,” was a huge audience pleaser and got the crowd on their feet to end the evening.

Until next time – editorjack!

(This message is prepared for your review if you were there, for your information if you had to miss, and as a historical record of the great things going on in the life of the Alexandria Harmonizer Chapter. —Ye Ed.)

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