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A Broadway Revue

A fund-raising event presented by the Chamber Singers
Mary Evelyn Root, Musical Director/Conductor
Leanne Elmer Herrmann, Accompanist

Saturday, April 27, 1996
St. Thomas More Catholic Church
64 W. Ponce de Leon Ave
Decatur, Georgia

CAROUSEL by Rodgers and Hammerstein

June Is Bustin' Out All Over (Nettie, Carrie and Chorus)
Carrie and Mr. Snow Sequence (Carrie and Mr. Snow)
A Real Nice Clambake Carrie (Nettie, Julie and Chorus)
If I Loved You (Julie and Billy)
Finale: When You Walk Through a Storm (Nettie and Chorus)

Nettie: Judy Thompson
Carrie: Jeanette Gowen
Enoch Snow: David Mayersky
Julie Jordan: Janet Crist
Billy Bigelow: Barry Geesey

SOUTH PACIFIC by Rodgers and Hammerstein

Bloody Mary (Men)
There Is Nothin' Like a Dame (Men)
This Is How It Feels (Emile and Nellie)
Some Enchanted Evening (Emile and Nellie)
I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Outa My Hair (Nelly and Women)
Younger Than Springtime (Cable)
Honey Bun (Nelly, Billis and Chorus)

Emile de Becque: Ken Whipple
Ensign Nellie Forbush: Faye Goolrick
Lieutenant Joseph Cable: Barry Geesey
Luther Billis: Charles Gabriel

INTERMISSION

SOUND OF MUSIC by Rodgers and Hammerstein

The Sound of Music and My Favorite Things (Maria)
Morning Hymn (Nuns)
Alleluia (Nuns)
How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria (Mother Abbess and Nuns)
Edelweiss (Captain)
The Sound of Music - Reprise (Nuns)
An Ordinary Couple (Maria and Captain)
Finale: Climb Ev'ry Mountain (Mother Abbess and Nuns)

Maria Rainer: Betsy Sterner
The Mother Abbess: Michaelene Gorney
Sister Berthe: Kristen McDermott
Sister Sophia: Jeanette Gowen
Sister Agatha: Faye Goolrick
Sister Catherine: Judy Thompson
Sister Margaretta: Janet Crist
Captain Georg von Trapp: Charles Gabriel

WEST SIDE STORY by Bernstein and Sondheim

Jet Song (Riff and the Jets)
One Hand, One Heart (Tony and Maria)
America (Rosalia, Anita and Girls)
A Boy Like That and I Have a Love (Anita and Maria)
There's a Place for Us (A Girl)
Finale: There's a Place for Us (Maria, Tony and Company)

Riff: Barry Geesey
Action: Kenneth Whipple
Baby John: Charles Gabriel
Maria: Kristen McDermott
Tony: David Mayersky
Rosalia: Judy Thompson
Anita: Michaelene Gorney
A Girl: Janet Crist

Program Notes

By Michaelene Gorney

Carousel (1945)
South Pacific (1949)
The Sound of Music (1959)
Music by Richard Rodgers, Lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II

Richard Rodgers, one of America's greatest theatrical composers, was born in New York and educated at Columbia, where he wrote music for college shows, collaborating on some of these with lyricist Oscar Hammerstein II. From 1920 to 1940, Rodgers collaborated with Lorenz Hart to produce musical comedies, including A Connecticut Yankee, On Your Toes, Babes in Arms, I Married an Angel, The Boys from Syracuse, and Pal Joey. Hammerstein, in the meantime, tried his hand at stage management and serious drama (both failures), studied and worked with lyricist Otto Harbach, and worked with several composers to produce Showboat, Sweet Adeline, and Music in the Air, among others. Rodgers and Hammerstein's greatest success came when they joined forces to produce a succession of nine musicals, beginning in 1943 with Oklahoma!, and ending with The Sound of Music in 1959. Following Hammerstein's death, Rodgers continued to write music, using primarily his own lyrics.

Carousel, 1945, followed in the pioneering path of Showboat by using the American past to tell an American story that is thought-provoking and, despite its humorous moments, quite serious. Although Carousel is based on Liliom, a play by the Hungarian Ferenc Molnar, the setting is "all-American" New England, complete with clambake ("This Was a Real Nice Clambake"), and fisherman's dreams ("When the Children Are Asleep"). As the story goes, Billy Bigelow, the carnival barker, falls in love with Julie Jordan. Neither is capable of expressing true feelings, choosing instead to just speculate on the possibilities in "If I Loved You." But, by the time "June Is Bustin' Out All Over," Billy has won Julie's heart. (We never know why they love each other, just that they do.) Finding out that Julie is pregnant, Billy sets out to make some money by staging a bank robbery. The robbery misfires and, rather than be caught, Billy kills himself. He pleads before the heavenly judge to return once more to earth, to see his daughter and to let Julie know he really did love her. Snubbed at the child's graduation, even by her old friend Carrie Snow, Julie takes hearts as Nettie assures her, "You'll Never Walk Alone."

South Pacific is another fun-loving but serious tale, centered around Nellie, an American nurse serving in the Pacific during World War II. Though assured by Emile deBeque, a French planter, that "Some Enchanted Evening" she will fall in love, Nellie doubts that she could ever fall for any of the brazen servicemen who tease "Bloody Mary" and insist that "There Is Nothin' Like a Dame." (The women get their turn to mock the male interest in "Honey Bun.") Nellie eventually realizes that she loves deBeque ("This Is How It Feels"), but later vows to "Wash That Man Right Outa My Hair" upon learning that he has fathered Eurasian children. In the meantime, Mary's daughter, Liat, has fallen in love with serviceman Cable. Though Liat makes him feel "Younger Than Springtime," Cable reveals that he is opposed to inter-racial marriages and would never marry her. Liat hurts none the less, however, when Cable is killed on a dangerous mission. DeBeque returns from the same mission to embrace Nellie, who has lovingly accepted both him and his children.

The Sound of Music, Rodgers' and Hammerstein's last collaborative effort, is based on Maria von Trapp's autobiographical book, The Trapp Family Singers. Though scorned by several critics when it opened, The Sound of Music was a public favorite and its movie version, with Julie Andrews in the role of Maria, broke records in 1965. Maria, a postulant in an Austrian convent, prefers to roam the hills and sit in the fields, listening to "The Sound of Music" and contemplating "My Favorite Things," rather than attending to her assigned duties. Following the "Morning Hymn" and "Alleluia," the Mother Abbess and several Sisters discover they are at a loss in answering the question, "How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria?", fearing that "Maria's not an asset to the Abbey." Maria is sent to serve as governess in the home of widowed naval officer George von Trapp, and soon wins both his children's -- and his -- love. Despite their unusual circumstances, the Captain and Maria relish the thought of being "An Ordinary Couple." When Trapp is summoned for duty by the Nazis, to whom he is opposed, the family decides to flee their beloved Austria. The Captain sings "Edelweiss" as a final "good-bye." In summoning the courage needed to leave her home, Maria remembers the advice of the Mother Abbess, who encouraged her not to cringe from life, but to "Climb Ev'ry Mountain."

West Side Story (1959)
Music by Leonard Bernstein, Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim

In 1949, Jerome Robbins shared with Leonard Bernstein his idea of a modern-day Romeo and Juliet set in the slums. He envisioned street brawls and death, and the love between a Catholic boy and a Jewish girl living in Greenwich Village; it would be called East Side Story. While in Los Angeles in 1955, Bernstein noticed the headline, "GANG RIOTS ON OLIVIERA ST.," a report on violence between Mexicans and Anglos. At last, he had found the modern equivalent of the Montague/ Capulet rivalry! As ideas developed, L.A. became New York and the Mexicans became Puerto Rican immigrants. West Side Story premiered in September, 1957, full of Latin-American rhythms, modern dance, and some of the most creative and memorable music of the American musical theater.

The main characters of West Side Story, in love with each other, are Tony, a Polish-American boy and Maria, a Puerto Rican girl. Tony's best friend, Riff, is the leader of the Jets, a street gang. Maria's brother, Bernardo, leads the rival Puerto Rican Sharks. The situation is ripe for conflict and the ensuing tragedy. In the "Jet Song," heard in Act I, Riff and the Jets celebrate the joys of gang membership. In "One Hand, One Heart," Tony and Maria affirm their love, singing among dress-shop mannequins who silently witness their private wedding. In "America," Maria's friend, Anita, and other Puerto Rican women engage in a playful debate over the relative merits of life back home and in Manhattan. ("America's" rhythms, alternating groups of two and three beats, are those of the Bailes de Huapango, a festival popular along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico.) In "A Boy Like That," Anita, who loves Bernardo, bitterly reproaches Maria for becoming involved with Tony, who killed Bernardo after Bernardo knifed Riff. Maria overcomes Anita's bitterness by appealing to her love for Bernardo, the same love she shares with Tony, in "I Have a Love." Having heard that Maria has been killed for her loyalty to him, Tony attacks and kills the supposed murderer. He, in turn, is killed, leaving Maria to follow the mourners at his funeral. The haunting and beautiful "Somewhere," originally sung by Tony and Maria in shared grief, is reprised in a fantasy ballet, later as Tony dies in Maria's arms, and as the gangs thoughtfully depart the tragic scene.