HMCKC Time Capsule – The Amazing Marilyn Maye

Dudley’s Dish: New Performance Night & Ticket Scammers

There are LOTS of exciting things happening at the Heartland Men’s Chorus Kansas City!

We are so excited to announce that we’ve added a third concert to our spring concert, Princes of Pop! The last two years in this concert cycle, we presented Whitney! and After All: 60 Years of CHER. Your support at those concerts has enabled us to add a third night to Princes of Pop on Friday, March 22 at the Folly Theater. Now comes the nail biting until we sell enough tickets to make it financially viable to continue the practice of 3 performances for each of our main stage concerts! Please tell everyone you know that there are plenty of good seats available at hmckc.org – the ONLY place to buy tickets. Again – the ONLY place to buy tickets is hmckc.org! 

We are not associated with any third-party ticketing sites such as Tickets Center, Vivid Seats, Ticketmaster, or Stubhub. These sellers inflate the price of our tickets, and we only receive the real price of the tickets – they pocket the rest. So remember – our tickets are priced between $35 and $55 each (not including box seats). Never pay more than that – if they’re asking for more – they aren’t us!

I’m also excited to announce that ELEVATE 2024 – our spring fundraiser will be held at the first stadium built for a professional women’s team in the world! Join us on Sunday, May 19 at the CPKC Stadium – home of the Kansas City Current Soccer Team! More information will be coming soon on our website, through email and via social media. It’s going to be a fabulous time with all your friends! Save the date now.

Thanks so much for your support of the Heartland Men’s Chorus Kansas City. We love the work that we do in our community, and it wouldn’t be possible without you. If there is anything that I can do to make your HMCKC experience better in any way, please reach out to me at dudley@hmckc.org. See you at the concert!

Cullen’s Corner: Becoming the Princes of Pop

Princes of Pop is underway, and the excitement is growing as we prepare to celebrate the evolution of male pop music with the incredible singers of HMC! We’re turning back the clock to the early 60’s with The Four Seasons and The Beatles, fast forwarding through the 70’s, 80’s, 90’s with Elton, Queen, The Village People, George Michael and finally highlighting some of the world’s newest male pop royalty. This show is going to feature more dancing than ever before with 15 auditioned dancers performing during six musical selections! I don’t want to give everything away, but we even have a special guest who appeared on America’s Got Talent to help us celebrate the one and only Michael Jackson! Before you know it we’ll be starting rehearsals for Rise Up, our summer production that aims to bring awareness to the important social issues of today while inspiring us all to use our voices for change. Then we’re off to the GALA Choruses Festival 2024 in Minneapolis where we’ll be performing alongside 7,000 other singers from 170 LGBTQIA+ choruses from around the world. We can’t wait to represent the incredible and amazing people of Missouri and Kansas here in the Heartland!

– Shawn Cullen, Artistic Director/Conductor

Meet the new HMCKC Board Chair Eric Aufdengarten

Sponsor Spotlight – Aspis Consulting

Aspis Consulting joined as a sponsor during Season 37 and has continued to support the chorus in so many ways. The cybersecurity consulting firm also became part of our Disney Producer’s Circle that helped HMCKC produce and bring to the stage at the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts, ‘Disney Pride in Concert.’

Aspis Consulting’s values include community and diversity. There is no greater joy for us than when our values align with a worthy community organization. By sponsoring a local arts organization such as the chorus, we live our values and display our authentic selves out loud.  We view our partnership as an investment into a shared mission of building community, celebrating pride, and empowering authenticity.” 

 

Jeff Wagner, Aspis

Meet New HMCKC Board Member: Danny Shervington-Bair

The HMCKC Board of Directors welcomed two new members starting in August. One of those is very familiar with the chorus because he is also a singing member. Danny Shervington-Bair is no stranger to the stage and also to Kansas City. Danny joined HMCKC in January of 2022 and his first concert was ‘Whitney’ in March of 2022. 

“I joined the HMC Chorus and the board because it has helped me find my voice within the LGBTQ+ community. Singing with this vibrant group not only rekindled my passion for music but also provided a creative outlet that I had been missing for years. Moreover, being part of this community work has helped me build my confidence and become more actively involved in making a positive impact,” says Shervington-Bair.

See Danny and the rest of the chorus in ‘A Very Merry Christmas Pageant’ December 2nd and 3rd at the Folly Theater and December 10th at Yardley Hall. Tickets at hmckc.org.

Dudley’s Dish: Holiday Concerts, Season Tickets Still Available, & Cabaret!

Welcome to Season 38!

The Heartland Men’s Chorus Kansas City is thrilled to be preparing for the first concert of the 38th season of building community, celebrating pride, and empowering authenticity! Our concert lineup is stellar – with three main stage concert productions, HeartAches cabaret show, and outreach performances throughout the community.

We are working hard here at HMCKC to upgrade systems – and that includes being able to provide digital e-tickets! Season ticket holders and individual ticket purchasers now have the option of choosing the e-ticket option when reserving your seats. We hope this option allows further convenience for our audiences who choose this option! And season tickets are still available! Call or email me at the number and email address below if you need to join as a season ticket holder.

I can’t believe that this is the 38th year that the Chorus has been singing to inspire a world of love and acceptance in Kansas City and the region – because I’ve been around for most of them! This year we will once again take the Chorus to the GALA Choruses Festival in Minneapolis and share with the LGBTQIA+ Choral World what we are so proud of here in Kansas City – The Heartland Men’s Chorus – truly one of the best choruses in the movement and beyond. During this season we will also begin planning for our Ruby Anniversary – our 40th year – in 2025-2026. It will be here before you know it, and we’ve got all kinds of things in the works. You won’t want to miss it.

As always, we count on your support in order to advance our mission and vision. Please visit hmckc.org to donate at whatever level is comfortable for you. Giving is available in many ways, including one-time donations, stock gifts, legacy giving, and ongoing gifts. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to call or email me at 816-931-3338 or dudley@hmckc.org.

See you at the concerts!

Dudley

Meet Lamar Sims Celebrating 20 Years With HMCKC

Season 38 brings quite the milestone we will be recognizing all season. HMCKC accompanist, Lamar Sims is celebrating his 20th year with the chorus. 

Such well-deserved recognition! We are so grateful for the commitment and talent Lamar has brought to our mission and vision. 

Lamar is also the principal accompanist for OUTside Voices KC, among other ensembles.

You can hear Lamar next in our upcoming performances of Princes of Pop, March 22-24 at the Folly Theater. More info at hmckc.org.

HMCKC HeartAches Return!

For two decades now, the Heartland Men’s Chorus has utilized a small group of singers to perform different styles of music while representing the chorus when all 90-150 members weren’t available. From difficult acapella barbershop music, classical chamber selections, or Broadway-style theatrical moments, the HMC small ensemble was often the first boots on the ground delivering the mission of HMCKC into the KC community.

The first small ensemble of HMC was called “Heartbeat”, created under the leadership of Reuben Reynolds III in the Spring of 1992. Under the leadership of Joe Nadeau, “The Heartaches” were born and stayed together through his final performance in 2014. The ensemble then changed its name to “The Burnt Ends” with Artistic Director Dustin Cates and kept that name through 2019, the start of Artistic Director Shawn Cullen’s tenure with HMCKC. After the COVID-19 Pandemic, HMC reemerged with 77 singers, and the focus was on building back the full ensemble, but now, 140 strong, Artistic Director Shawn Cullen has resurrected the small ensemble, embracing the name of the longest tenure of success, “The Heartaches”. Auditioned this past July 2023, 16 members of HMC have been chosen as members and made their debut performance with Liz Callaway and Ann Hampton Callaway at this season’s Evening of Note.

Look for The Heartaches during this season’s holiday production and save the date(s) February 8, 9, and 10 as The HeartAches perform their stand-alone cabaret, “What’s Love Got To Do With It” at the Black Box Theater, just in time for Valentine’s Day 2024.

Cullen’s Corner

What a year last year was! From the largest ticketed holiday show in HMC history to the sold-out “After All- 60 Years of Cher” spring show to the epic Disney Pride in Concert- we took a big leap in musical excellence, theatrical presentation, and audience growth! One of the biggest challenges I face each and every season is answering the question that everyone asks- “So, how are you gonna top that?” Even though I have over 50 original career productions under my belt, the pressure to produce something that singers and audience members alike will love is sometimes completely overwhelming. 

Creatives often use a process at the beginning of their career rooted in imitating others. Through the learning process, programming moves naturally to assimilation and finally into the final stage of creative producing, innovation. No matter what, each time a producer or writer creates something for the stage, it takes a massive amount of vulnerability and trust grounded in experience and skill (still, always terrifying). 

This season we are taking a fresh, innovative approach to our holiday show by creating an original theatrical storyline with characters and a plot to guide our audiences on a holiday adventure. “A Very Merry Christmas Pageant” is an original musical production that follows all members of HMC as they represent various parts of Kansas and Missouri and compete for the title of “Mister Merry Christmas”. You’ll find out the backstory of a few contestants as they partake in several elements of competitive pageants, all while being judged by three guest judges from the KC arts community. This hilarious and heartwarming production will keep you giggling in your seat as you listen to 140 voices performing an eclectic mix of music to get you in the holiday spirit. You’ll hear everything from “My Grown Up Christmas List” and “Do You Hear What I Hear” to non-holiday pop songs through a holiday lens, like Laura Branigan’s 80’s hit- “Gloria”! Now we just need to figure out how to fit all these singers on the Folly and Yardley Stage! As usual, myself and our leadership team stay so very grateful for the community support of HMC, and we can’t wait to bring our music with a message to Kansas City once again this 38th Season!

Shawn Cullen