Spinning Friday tunes since 2010...
For anyone who wants to join in, simply choose five pieces of music and post them for other bloggers to enjoy. Then check out the set posted by the other 5 on Friday blogger -- you can sign in over at Golch Central's Rambling Stuff.
Enjoyed a wonderful concert last Sunday, featuring my friend Michael Downie and three other singers.
Michael is at the far left.
We've been friends since junior high school, becoming close when we both were members of our high school choir, the Prince Andrew Chorus. My mom and I sat with Shelley, also from those magical choir days.
Shelley, me and my mom at the concert
When yet another of our choir friends, John, commented on Facebook that he remembered Michael singing A New Town is a Blue Town from our grade eleven musical The Pajama Game, he gave me the spark for today's set.
Here are five of my favorite songs from the three musicals produced by my high school choir while I was a student there.
1 - The Brothers Come to Egypt/Grovel, Grovel -- Donny Osmond and the cast of the 1999 filmed version of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
Our version was performed in the spring of 1980, when I was in grade 10.
I'm including the song that follows this one, because they make more story sense together.
Who's the Thief?
I was lucky enough to work as an usher at the Hummingbird Theatre in Toronto, the summer that Donny Osmond's touring production of Joseph played from May to September. Yes, he really was amazing.
2 - A New Town is a Blue Town -- Harry Connick Jr. -- The Pajama Game
My friend Michael has a baritone voice, so when he was cast as the lead Sid Sorokin, the tenor part had to be transposed to accommodate Michael's voice.
Our version was performed in the spring of 1981, when I was in grade 11.
3 - Hey There -- Harry Connick Jr. -- The Pajama Game
4 - People Will Say We're in Love -- Shirley Jones as Laurie, and Gordon MacRae as Curley
Michael once again played the lead in our graduating production of Oklahoma!
Our version was performed in the spring of 1982, when I was in grade 12.
This is a shot taken by my dad from one of our performances. That's Michael at left center, Heather in the blue and me in the green at right. I played Ado Annie.
We're in the midst of the 14-minute dream ballet sequence, which Heather and I co-choreographed. We didn't let a little thing like 'that's crazy!' stop us from tackling such a monumental challenge. It worked out pretty well.
Here's the entire dream ballet sequence as performed by Josefina Gabrielle and Hugh Jackman from the 1998 filmed version of the London's West End production.
5 - Dream Ballet sequence -- Oklahoma! 1998
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