Looking Back on the Fall Show Road to Harmony Sept 24th 2011

This one has gotten go down as one of the best shows in years for the Harmonizers. Huge credit goes to Brian Ammerman, who seemed to be working for months on every detail to make it a success. Besides the admin and planning tho, the singing and performing was great by the chorus and the quartets were a big WOW!

Thanks to Brian for his comprehensive thank you email to all.

What treat for all of us to hear and see CROSSROADS, the 2009 BHS gold medal winners. It was especially fun for us since we had worked with baritone Brandon Guyton as our coach, and most of us knew bass singer, Jim Henry, as director of the Ambassadors of Harmony. Their show set was awesome and their afterglow set was even better. Again – WOW.

YeEd was proud of our own quartet guys who also had terrific hits for our audiences. MAYHEM (with Ken White and Mike Pinto) was fun and had a good bit with Joe Cerutti. We wish them well next weekend at the district contest. And DA CAPO (with Ryan Griffith, Tony Colosimo, Joe Sawyer, Wayne Adams) keeps getting better. Also fun to have all four of them in the chorus and on the risers for shows, and to help with musical leadership and front row duties.

Can’t believe all the uniform changes the chorus made! Looked good tho and all made sense and added to the entertainment and surprises. As usual, it was funny to watch the email exchanges about missing uniform parts and watch guys meeting family members or friends who brought out a missing shirt!! Kudos to Tom Kern, unsung hero as Harmo uniform chairman.

The script was just corny enough to bring a laugh and for sure, it allowed us to work in some really diverse songs. Sure fun to see the audience get into “That’s Amore” every show. Terry Reynolds makes it happen.

Big thanks to Scott Kahler who was stage manager and did a lot of voice over emcee work. Good amount of humor for those of us in the audience. Thanks to Craig Odell who worked most of Saturday morning with a steamer to take the wrinkles out of that huge American flag we fly during “Stars and Stripes.” He was assistant stage manager and had his own walk on part as maitre d’ for the restaurant scene. Appreciated the classy emcee intros by Scipio Garling for two special numbers during the show.

Also great to have such fine props for the show. Thanks to Tom Griffith, props manager and the many Harmonizers who contributed.

Actors Mike Kelly and Mary Anne Cleaveland were great at carrying off the theme of the scripted part of the show. Fun when Bob Blair’s grandsons, Cavin and Jackson Collins, came running on stage to be the children of Dez and Molly.

As usual it takes a lot of helpers to pull off a big show like this. The staff at the new venue, Hylton Performing Arts Center in Manassas were great including the tech folks and the ushers and the box office. Seems the audience liked being able to get a coffee or beer in the lobby too.

Our FRIENDS group was pressed into service to sell the CDs for CROSSROADS as well as the new Harmonizer CD. Be sure to get your copy on Tuesday nite from the FRIENDS table. (ASLO their president, Sandy Stamps tells YeEd she will be selling sodas and 2011 White House Christmas ornaments too.)

Chorus manager, Mark Klostermeyer, kept the troops in line and provided classy signage for the guest quartet rooms. There was also a room for Master Director, Joe Cerutti. He and his musical team did good work to keep us singing well and having fun. Nice to see the assistant directors, Tony Colosimo, Mike Kelly and Will Cox, out front for songs during the show. Gotta also give credit to the visual team and the way they helped the chorus keep the performance level so high. Music vp, Terry Reynolds, helped show producer Brian keep the songs and script flowing during warm ups and rehearsal/stage time. You knew things were clicking along when he had his clip board out!

Emcee for the show was Bill Colosimo who handled important announcements including a couple plugs for our guest nite, Tuesday, Sept. 2th at Durant. All the singers need to be on hand for this one, as we expect a big turnout of guests in response to our recent membership drive. Actually YeEd recognized a number of recent guests in the audiences at the show. Also fun to see our fellow barbershoppers from neighboring chapters in VA and MD and DC.

Thanks to the riser crew who put up and took down and loaded back on the truck - Bob Blair was truck captain; John Pence for making the song boards for the stage; Sam McFarland and Keith Jones for getting the water and snacks for the cast backstage. The printed program for the show and its collection of advertisements was the work of Nick Leiserson. Great job on that task for one of our new guys.

The afterglow was a huge success. Thanks to Cheryl Wallen for her hard work getting the great bar-b-q meal for us along with desserts and drinks. The room right there in the Hylton Center made it easy for everyone to get there. Ken White, Eric Wallen, Jack Pitzer, Kevin Kaiser, Patrick Kim, Catherine Colosimo and Scott Kahler helped too. Noah Van Gilder was emcee for the glow and got us all laughing.

There were a number of familiar faces in the audience from the Harmonizer family – present and past (these are just the ones YeEd saw – no doubt there were others): Chuck Botts, Martin Banks, Don Harrington, Edris Qarghah Larry Silva, Tom Yengling, Bede Bender, Gary Mankin, Jim Shoenhard, Tom Griffith, Dean Martin, Royall and Geri Geis, Doug Smith, Bill Sowers, Glenn Williamson, Mike Schwartz, Brian Miller, Mike Geipel, Jerry TePaske, Terry Jordan, Jack McKendree, Bruce Minnick, Chuck Harner, Bob Caldwell and Larry Fagley.

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 with the Alexandria Harmonizer Chapter. —YeEd.)