Thursday, September 13, 2018




Looking Back on the September 8th 70th Anniversary Show Celebration
The Alexandria Harmonizers armonizeBarbershop Chapter was chartered in 1948. And this past weekend we celebrated the 70-year rich history of musical excellence, barbershop leadership and brotherhood at our show titled Platinum Moments.

The performance was at 4 pm on Saturday, Sept. 8th at Schlesinger Hall on the campus of the NoVA Community College in Alexandria. We were joined by our brothers, Toronto Northern Lights (TNL) chorus, from Canada; and by our friends SIGNATURE quartet from Florida.

The silver medalist quartet came to town on Wednesday and spent Thursday and Friday visiting schools in the DC area introducing youth and music educators to a cappella singing and promoting our spring Youth Harmony Festival.  Our education director, Sheryl Berlin, coordinated that effort.  This was the third time the SIGNATURE guys have spent time at schools in our area.

The TNL guys toured DC including tours of the Capitol arranged by Nick Leiserson. They arrived mostly by automobile on Thursday and Friday.

Friday night there was a tech rehearsal at Schlesinger which included time for many tasks to be completed in the hall, the foyer and lobby and the dressing rooms.  The front row used the stage to solidify their routines. Of course the usual riser crews worked too. Certainly sound and light tech was complicated as this show featured a lot of audio visual to show history, chapter photos and performances projected on large screens in the hall.

Our other special guests for this show were folks who played an important part in our musical history on stage and in contest and in our growing as singers. During the show they made introductions of songs and told stories of how they had been a part of the Harmonizer history.

The special guests included Geri Geis – artistic director and choreographer during the Gold Medal chorus era; Cindy Hansen Ellis – choreographer and presentation coach and performance motivator since 2004 for contests, show and major performances; Dr. Rob Hopkins – arranger of our gold medal ballad “I’ll Be Seeing You” in 1995; Eric Jackson – the lyricist for the intro verse of that same ballad; Majorie Latzko – wife of Walter, who arranged our 1998 gold medal ballad “In The Wee Small Hours” and 28 other songs for the Harmonizers (she was tenor in the famous CHORDETTES of “Mr. Sandman” fame); Richard Lewellen – director 2003-2006 when we performed the contest package with “Lazy Bones” and “Summertime;” Mike Wallen – one of the four associate directors for the chapter including John Hohl, Terry Reynolds and Tony Colosimo; Scott Werner – musical director for 30 years who took us to the four gold medals in 1986, 1989, 1995, 1998, and performances for five Kennedy Center Honors programs.

Overall emcee for the show was Marty Monson – CEO/Executive Director of the Barbershop Harmony Society (BHS).

The songs the Harmonizers sang for this show were chosen by survey ballot sent to fans and family.  We sang the top six vote getters and re-learned the music and the stage presence for the major contest uptunes that had earned gold medals or songs that had been part of major shows during the past.  

The opener was “Great Day” with the applause-earning visual spread to the sky. This was the first time for the family, fans and friends to see the new Harmonizer chorus suit with orange tie and pocket stuffer. Then came the popular “Summertime” with hot hard-working field hands stretched out on the ground.  Next was the toe-tapping medley of Glenn Miller songs that we sang in Normandy, France, for the anniversary of D-Day Landing.

Then to show our most current package that was used in Orlando in July, the chorus sang a lovely ballad “We Kiss in a Shadow” from The King and I, and an exciting Broadway piece “Blow Gabriel Blow” with terrific front row stage dancing (which included a good show of the front row’s orange sox thanks to choreography by Carlos Barillo!). Cy Wood came from Ohio to do Gabriel again as he had done in Orlando, and Pat Brown from TNL did the “devil” part for us.  

Before the intermission, SIGNATURE sang their show set. After intermission, our TNL guests sang their set.
Then the curtain opened for the Harmonizers again – this time in their black tux with white vests and bow ties.  They sang the 1998 gold medal uptune “Steppin’ Out” with lots of uniform surprises like the popup top hats, and disappearing ascots, and plenty of dancing by the whole chorus.

Next was our always-an-audience-favorite, “New York – New York” which we had done on the Carnegie Hall stage in the past. As it usually does, this song earned a standing ovation

Then Scott Werner was introduced to direct the top vote getting song – “I’ll Be Seeing You” from our 1995 gold medal performance. It was the favorite Harmonizer song of all time and has been sung on many shows and concerts over the years.  For this show it was sung by both Alexandria and Toronto.

The amazing finale for the show was the Jay Giallombardo’s arrangement of “American/Canadian Ode to Joy” with both choruses and SIGNATURE and guest quartet from TNL. This terrific arrangement featured a weaving of the American and Canadian National Anthems and Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy.”

Though there had been a number of standing ovations during the evening, this last number caused the audience to erupt onto their feet to scream and applaud.

In addition to all the wonderful music during the evening, the Harmonizers presented their Award of Harmony to Joyce Garrett, music director at Alfred Street Baptist Church in Alexandria.  She was a major force in the chapter’s efforts to reach out and be sensitive to diversity in a cappella music in our city. The Harmonizers have shared a couple of performances with the Alfred Street Men’s Choir in the last year.  President Shawn Tallant made the presentation.

Both the Alexandria City Council and the Virginia Legislature passed formal proclamations this year congratulating the Harmonizers on their 70th anniversary. At the beginning of Act 2 on the show, framed copies of these proclamations were formally presented to chapter president Shawn Tallant and artistic director Joe Cerutti. The Alexandria proclamation was presented by Mayor Allison Silberberg and the joint resolution from the Virginia Legislature was presented by Charniele Herring, who represents Alexandria in the Virginia House of Delegates.

Over 50 Harmonizers who did not sing on the show were greeted and given commemorative buttons to wear for the show for all to recognize them too. It was a treat to see some long-time members in the hall. Here are the names of those we could recall: Fred Womer, Larry Silva, Gary Mankin, Ross Johnson, Keith Jones, Fr. Joe Witmer, Dave Kohls, Martin Banks, Royal Geis, Gary Bibens, Dick Newton, Mike Wallen, Scott Werner, Richard Lewellen, Craig Odell, Jim McConnell, Jim Lake, Alan Hanenbaum, Al Herman, Bill Sowers, Dan Cook, Dave Ermlick, Bob Caldwell, Bob Eckman, Eliott Roseman, Rick Taylor, Jerry TePaske, Bill Colosimo, Don Johnson, Chris Yates, Steve Spar, Duncan Woodbury, John Adams, Joe Wagovich, Nick Aiuto, Bob Hirsh, Lou Bergner (sang with TNL), Bob Bates, Lew Klinge, Ken White, Jeremy Richardson, Larry Fagley, Ed Allen, Bob Wilson, Bob Arbetter, Litic Murali, Austin Cotton, Jon Frank, Alan Wile ,Walt Page, Neal Bibens, Mario Sengco, Dave Reyno, Ken Fess, Terry Jordan, and Vince Cazenas.

Volunteers helped welcome the 980 attendees to the sold-out event and helped organize a smooth seating process into the hall for the unreserved seats ($35 each). A limited number of premium seats ($100) were reserved in about the 10th – 15th rows.  These folks were invited to arrive early and celebrate with a toast on stage with the chapter leadership.  They also met the VIP presenters.

The lobby was well organized so the large crowd to easily get to the will call box and to a refreshment station, A lobby display coordinated by the chapter’s history committee featured a tribute of the four gold medal contest appearances with a framed collage of the photo, the medal and the contest program.  The exhibit also had a collage of items from the earliest years of the chapter such as the charter and earliest quartet pictures.  There was also a framed autographed CD that Harmonizer fan, John Glenn, took to space! Finally there was the chorus photo at Wolf Trapp with Victor Borge, and a poster from our trip to Normandy France.

The chapter created a great full-color 40-page printed program for our anniversary show. It was full of chorus photos from over the years; info about historical milestones, a list of the 44 men who have been president in the 70 years; and many tribute advertisements. Copies of the two special proclamations for the chapter were printed in the program as well.

After the show, there was a Platinum Affair for performers and their guests at the Lee Center a few blocks away. It was a great wrap-up event to celebrate – combo music as guests arrived, hors d’oeuvrs passed by waiters,  a fantastic Italian buffet with great desserts, two convenient bars for wine and beer, and a special anniversary cake.  Director Joe Cerutti was emcee for this event and started off the night thanking the producers – Matt Doniger, Rebecca Conner, Krissi Folsom, and Rob Langsdon.

SIGNATURE sang, TNL sang, Alexandria sang a gospel song and then the choruses sang together again including the “Anthem” with the quartets.

The two choruses were going to a Nationals baseball game on Sunday, but the all-weekend rains cancelled the game.

The show audio was broadcast via Acaville Radio and is available on Acaville.org.  A major newspaper spread in The Alexandria Gazette hit the newsstands the day before the show telling a lot of the history of the chapter.

The Platinum Moments show team included the following: artistic director, Joe Cerutti; director of shows, Joe Cerutti Sr.; chapter executive directors, Terry Reynolds and Randall Eliason; chapter president, Shawn Tallant; producers, Matt, Rebecca, Krissi, Rob; marketing, Jon Enten, Krissi Folsom, Steve Murane, Eileen Spinela; publicity, Walter Page; ticketing, Ian Poulin; printed program, Casey Belzer and Adam Afifi; script, Dave Branstetter and Steve White; stage manager, Robyn Murane; guest refreshments, Connor Goss and Terry Reynolds; front of house, Sandy Stamps; props, Janet Cerutti; costumes, Robyn Murane; history, Jack Pitzer and Martin Banks; videography, Mike Kelly; photography, Rob Langston; housing, Stan Quick; and Platinum Affair, Ken Rub. Many chapter members pitched in to handle the tasks needed on the day of the show.

Director Joe mentioned several times during the last few days leading up to the show, however, that this event was a success because so many members and friends and supporters had worked as a team. Of course, he also saluted the chorus for their work at selling tickets, for accepting jobs no matter how small, and for dedication and persistence in learning lots of new music and stage presence to make the show great.
The weekend had a couple of sadder moments.  Scott Werner’s wife, Linda, fell in the parking lot when she arrived and suffered a concussion.  She was able to leave the hospital on Monday and fly back to Florida a few days later.

And on Saturday while we were performing, one of our tenor singers and 50-year member, Alan Kousen, died after his battle with cancer.  The chapter had sent him a video last Tuesday night which he was able to see. There will be a time to celebrate Alan’s life later here in the DC area according to Carlos Correa.

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 each week during the 70th year of the Alexandria Harmonizer Chapter. —YeEd






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