Symphony, chorus team up for New Year’s Eve 'Lullaby'

By Eric Lochridge, Journal staff | Friday, January 09, 2009

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The Black Hills Symphony Orchestra and the A Cappella Showcase will perform together for “Lullaby of Broadway,” a New Year’s Eve concert featuring music from traditional Broadway musicals.

Symphony conductor Bruce Knowles said the show will feature songs from Broadway musicals such as “The Producers,” “Miss Saigon,” “Chicago” and “The Sound of Music.”

“I tried to get a wide variety, a wide spectrum of Broadway music for this,” Knowles said.

Judy Vidal, musical director for the A Cappella Showcase, said that she’s a fan of Broadway musicals and that performing them with the symphony will be a “big adventure” for the groups.

“All of the numbers but one are Broadway tunes,” she said. The chorus and the symphony will do most of the songs together, but the groups will also perform a few separately.

“I think a lot of people will have that ‘ah’ moment when they hear the music they’re familiar with,” Vidal said.

Audience members probably will know at least some of the music because the Rushmore Plaza Civic Center has hosted several of the shows.

 “A lot of these are on videotape, and a lot have been through here on the Broadway series. ‘Chicago’ was here last year, and ‘Saigon’ was a few years ago,” Knowles said.  “It’s a good opportunity to revisit all these tunes.”

The symphony’s annual New Year’s Eve performance features a different theme each year, and Broadway tunes haven’t been in the group’s repertoire recently.

“I really like all these selections because they blend some familiar things with some obscure ones,” Knowles said.

He said the addition of the A Cappella Showcase will round out the performance — both its sound and its presentation.

“It gives another dimension to the symphony,” Knowles said. “They’re excellent show people as well. It brings a lot of life, a lot of sparkle to everything.”

Vidal said the chorus’ show is designed to hold the attention of the audience.

“We try to make that visual very strong,” she said.

Jo Prang, a baritone with the chorus, said singing with the symphony is a change for the vocalists.

“We’ve never done this before,” she said.

Broadway songs are a bit of a departure from the chorus’ usual music, and working with the symphony has been a challenge for a group that doesn’t usually have musical accompaniment. But having the instrumental backup has been interesting.

“We thought Broadway tunes would be a really good way to bring the two groups together,” Prang said.

Call Eric Lochridge at 394-8321 or e-mail eric.lochridge@rapidcityjournal.com.