(OUTscene NW) Concert RE-view: SMC's FALLING in LOVE AGAIN Triumphs in the End!

Niven's Gad

by MK Scott

It is hard to fathom that it has been 12 years since the Seattle Men's Chorus had performed at the Paramount Theater. It was the Sing for the Cure in June 2001 with special guest, Kristin Chenoweth. Sing for the Cure was about the fight against Breast Cancer commissioned in 2000 by Turtle Creek Chorale of Dallas. It was performed in Act 2 with a Mixed chorus, which led a year later to the creation of the Seattle Women's Chorus. The Glorious Chenoweth headlined in Act One.

Fast forward to 2011, when SMC (along with Boston Gay Chorus) commissioned, For a Look or a Touch, that Premiered during their salute to Germany Concert in April 2011.

Obviously, this would be repeated just 3 years later in the Falling in Love Again concert this past weekend for One Night Only.

The Chorus purposely scheduled their PRIDE concert 2 weeks early as they will be leaving this week for a 2 week tour of Germany (Their First EURO Tour since 1998).

This Time, thank god, SMC chose to start the show with Jake Heggie's For a Look or a Touch, I complained in 2011, that after the show ended, I was felt depressed with nightmares.

As I re-viewed in 2011, For a Look or a Touch is about a poignant look at two gay lovers torn apart by the Holocaust. (Part Narrative/Part Opera) Starring guest baritone Morgan Smith (Seattle Opera) and  actor , David Pichette (Now played by Kip Niven), staged by Intiman Theatre's Andrew Russell, and featuring the Men's Chorus as a chilling vision of prisoners of a concentration camp. In the story, one of the lovers remembers his 19 year old lover (Manfred) who perished and his now a vision to the surviving Lover (Gad), Decades later. The story is taken from the true story featured in documentary, Paragraph 175. The scene of the 200 (Actually about 80 this time) member Chorus in prison stripes with one of them with his hands tied and lifted up into the air was Kühlen (Chilling)!

Pichette's Gad

But something was way off,  perhaps the chorus was half its size or the newly created narratives felt awkward, or Niven's Gad, was not as believable as Pichette's Gad or seeing it twice in 3 years made it lose its shock value?

The Best was the new song 100,000 Stars was dedicated in memory of my dear friend, Tony Moore,  from my years in the chorus, who past away recently.

Act II was way more uplifting, but it took awhile. After Worthy (from the Hinterlands) and a Preview of Narrow Bridge (From Tyler's Suite), it gotten a little more uplifting with Gershwin's Little Jazz Bird, to the FAB, Ellington's Mood Indigo. Leave it to Captain Smartypants to bring in the Fun with Dream a little Dream, and Falling in Love Again. The last song listed was Pharrell's HAPPY, but kinda fell flat. The Encore certainly made up for that with a song from next spring's show, 'I am Harvey Milk' with an uplifting Finale that got a standing ovation. Auf Wiedersehen and Good Night!