Press – Page 3 – Heartland Men's Chorus

Heartland Men’s Chorus Brings Vegas Strip To Folly Stage

Julie Denesha | KCUR

Kicking off the summer with a trip to the Vegas strip, Heartland Men’s Chorus is bringing “Vegas Baby” to the Folly Theater in Kansas City, Mo., in what’s envisioned as a lavish spectacle. The chorus, with 150 singers, will be joined by magicians, showgirls and aerial acrobatics.

Guest conductor Anthony T. Edwards says one of the highlights for him will be seeing Quixotic perform onstage as the chorus sings Cirque du Soleil’s Let Me Fall.

“It’s like directing a circus. We’re going to blow the walls out of that place,” he says with a laugh. “It’s a really high energy evening.”

Not too close to bump headdresses

A 20-year veteran of the chorus, Dudley Hogue, performs as one of five showgirls during the concert.

“This is a big show and the Folly stage is very small,” Hogue says. “We know that we have to be very close to each other, but we can’t be too close to each other because we’ll bump headdresses or something like that.”

In step with the Vegas theme, the showgirl costumes will be outsized. So a big challenge for Hogue is the headdress that he and the other showgirls will be wearing.

“As I was told during one of my costume fittings, showgirls never put their heads down and there is a reason for that because your headdress will be on the floor,” he says. “We’ve been practicing knowing that we are going to wear these big headdresses; trying to hold our heads still and not bending over.”

Doing what the chorus does best

Featured soloist Keith Wiedenkeller will perform Frank Sinatra’s song “My Way.” Wiedenkeller says that putting on a show is what the chorus does best.

“We are hardly ever a stand and sing chorus,” he says. “We always consider our concerts more of a show than a concert, but this concert definitely takes the show concept to a whole new level.”

Edwards says it’s been fun for him as conductor to watch the chorus sing music they enjoy, but he hopes it will be fun for the audience as well.

“The GALA (gay and lesbian) chorus movement was born out of the AIDS crisis. And I told the chorus last week, ‘Who’s to say that if somebody smiles or somebody laughs or has a good time or hums along, we might be curing cancer,'” says Edwards. “Enjoying yourself is a big part of medicine.”

Heartland Men’s Chorus presents “Vegas Baby,” June 13 – 15, Folly Theater, 300 West 12th Street, Kansas City, Mo., 816-931-3338.

Liberace, Quixotic and Vegas

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John Long | Camp

Anthony Edwards A Liberace impersonator, magicians and aerial dancers at the Folly Theater? Why yes! After all, it is a Heartland Men’s Chorus concert.

HMC’s June concert typically takes on the theme of Gay Pride Month, and what better way this year than with a Las Vegas “over-the-top” themed concert?

“Vegas, Baby” will feature Anthony Edwards, Kansas City’s premier musical director from the local theatre scene. He has been the musical director for the American Heartland Theatre, the Kansas City Repertory Theatre, the Coterie and more. He now is the musical director at Starlight Theatre. And many will know him from his work at AIDS Walk every year, where he directs the musical program on stage before the walk.

For Edwards, this concert is in some ways coming back full circle.

“When I was in Kansas City years ago, I was the accompanist [for HMC”],” he said. “I also worked on the first CD they ever recorded. So it’s very interesting to continue my long history with the Heartland Men’s Chorus. That’s why the concert is so meaningful to me. I get to be with a number of men that I’ve known for 25 years. I’m thrilled to be a part of this concert.”

Longtime artistic director Joe Nadeau left the HMC to become the artistic director of the Los Angeles Men’s Chorus, and the HMC has featured guest conductors for the March and June concerts. Now the chorus has announced that they have hired a new artistic director, Dustin Cates, who will take over the reins later this summer.

Edwards said that the HMC approached him about doing the Vegas concert primarily because of his theatre background. He added that his experience with large productions at the Starlight Theatre was also beneficial.

“They [HMC”] knew that I wouldn’t be afraid of the enormity of this concert. It’s not just the chorus standing and singing. It’s Vegas, baby,” he said, with a laugh.

“The first half of the concert is Vegas of yesterday,” Edwards said “It’s before Cirque du Soleil. It includes music by many different artists, including Frank Sinatra, Wayne Newton, etc. The jazz sound, Liberace, and the Vegas of yesteryear. The second half of the concert is more current.”

Anthony said it includes the music of Cher, Celine Dion and Elton John as well as the aerial dancing of Quixotic. He said that working with Quixotic has been a pleasure.

“Anthony Magliano [artistic director of Quixotic”> is so inventive. They have been so incredible in their collaboration,” he said.

Edwards said that this production of “Vegas, Baby” will be different from any versions produced in other cities.

“This concert is completely unique to Kansas City. A couple of the choruses have done Vegas shows, but we’re not doing the shows they did. This is completely HMC and Anthony Edwards productions,” he said, with a laugh.

He credits the uniqueness of this concert to the collaboration of Florida-based Liberace impersonator Martin Preston — the only performer who was granted express permission by the Liberace estate to appear and perform as the pianist — as well as Kansas City area magicians David Sandy and Lance Rich, Quixotic and HMC.

The smaller HMC ensemble called The Heartaches will be performing with a Bette Midler theme that Lamar Sims, the HMC’s musical accompanist, has stylized. Members of the chorus will also appear as dancers and showgirls throughout the performance.

This concert will be performed over three days, rather than the usual Saturday and Sunday schedule, so that more people will be able to see it.

“It’s so fun for Kansas City to see different arts organizations work together and have successful collaborations,” Edwards said.

The artistic director just celebrated his 18th anniversary with his partner, Scott Henze. The couple share a Brookside home with their Cairn and West Highland terriers. Edwards moved to Kansas City in 1989 to study at the Conservatory, left briefly in 1995 to work in Denver, where he met Henze, and returned in 2000.

“We love calling Kansas City home,” he said when speaking about his career with Kansas City theatre groups. He also worked with Missy Koonce and J.D. Mann at the theatre bar and restaurant called bar Natasha, playing piano and directing talent.

“I can’t forget about bar Natasha, although there’s a lot of things about bar Natasha I can’t remember,” he said with a laugh, “and you can quote me on that.”

Heartland Men’s Chorus presents “Vegas, Baby” at 8 p.m. June 13 and 14, and 4 p.m. on June 15. All performances are at the Folly Theater, 300 W. 12th St., Kansas City, Mo. Tickets are $15-$40 and are available at HMC or by calling 816-931-3338.

BWW Previews: The Heartland Men’s Chorus Brings VEGAS BABY to the Folly Theater

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Steve Wilson | Broadwayworld.com

Quixotic The Heartland Men’s Chorus brings Vegas Baby to the Folly Theater in Kansas City, to mark their summer concert. Expecting large crowds for the event, a third night’s performance has been added to the star-studded affair. Vegas Baby appears at the Folly Theater Friday June 13 through Sunday June 15.

Anthony Edwards conducts the chorus in musical numbers celebrating the “Rat Pack” era and modern headliners such as Cher and Celine Dion. “Anthony has worked as musical director for virtually every professional theatre in Kansas City,” says Rick Fisher, executive director of HMC. “When we were searching for a guest conductor, his was the only name we considered. With a show of this size and scope, we needed a conductor who could bring out the best of our singers as musicians and integrate all the various production elements to make the concert as spectacular as a Las Vegas extravaganza.”

Joining the Heartland Men’s Chorus and Anthony Edwards on stage is special quest Quixotic, a Kansas City based aerial acrobatics troupe. Quixotic amazes audiences with dance, aerial acrobatics, high fashion, original live music, and projection mapping. The athleticism of the dancers as they soar across the stage excites and entrances the audience.

Vegas Baby is the first collaboration of Quixotic and the Heartland, which Edwards initiated after joining the production. “The concert will represent all things Las Vegas, and having Quixotic on the program will allow us to stun the audience with the aerial work that has become so dominant in Las Vegas in the last fifteen years.”

Martin Preston is the only performer granted permission by the Liberace estate to appear and perform as the late entertainer. Preston joins the chorus playing a rhinestone-covered grand piano (complete with Liberace’s trademark candelabra). His series of costumes are based on the original designs worn by Liberace. “My opening costume has a quarter of a million hand-sewn sequins, beads, and crystals, not to mention over ten pounds of Swarovski rhinestones,” says Preston.

The show will be magical as David Sandy and Lance Rich perform trickery and illusions to the accompaniment of the chorus’s rendition of “That Old Black Magic.” Continuing the persona of Las Vegas members of the chorus dance and appear as showgirls throughout the performance.

The concert closes out the 28th season of the Heartland Men’s Chorus, Kansas City’s gay men’s chorus. The chorus performs regularly with 120 members and brings in the largest audience for choral music in the region.

Vegas Baby at the Folly Theater begins at 8 p.m. on Friday and Saturday with a 4 p.m. performance on Sunday. Purchase tickets by calling 816-931-3338 or visit the Heartland Men’s Chorus website.

Heartland Men’s Chorus finds meaning in ‘I Am Harvey Milk’

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Lisa Gutierrez | Kansas City Star

zstzt.St.81 The song is called “Sticks and Stones.”

The first time the Heartland Men’s Chorus sang it preparing for this week’s show was a little dicey for some of the guys.

The song includes a litany of gay slurs, words of hatred that would have to come out of their own mouths, harmoniously no less.

They would have to sing that word, the f-word.

Faggot.

How many times they’ve heard it, how many times someone has called Greg Maupins that name, whispered under the breath.

Cowards shoot from the shadows.

“It’s usually something as you’re walking by,” says the retail sales manager, a member of the chorus for 15 years. “It’s close enough so only you hear it. That’s when those names come out.”

There’s a lot in “I Am Harvey Milk” that resonates with Maupins and his fellow chorus members, who will perform it this weekend with members of another gay chorus, the Gateway Men’s Chorus of St. Louis.

The oratorio by Broadway composer Andrew Lippa — part theater, part choral performance — celebrates the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in California.

In the era of Donna Summer, leisure suits and disco naps, Milk ran in San Francisco to give gay people a voice. He asked much of them at a time when even the cops were harassing gays. He challenged them to be visible, to live their lives authentically. He asked them to come out of the closet.

His stump line became iconic: “My name is Harvey Milk, and I’m here to recruit you.”

1cNCQW.St.81 On Nov. 27, 1978, Milk and San Francisco mayor George Moscone were gunned down at city hall by Dan White, a former city supervisor. Sean Penn won an Oscar for his portrayal of the slain activist in the 2008 movie “Milk.”

As a gay advocate himself, chorus member Randy Hite knew Milk’s story well but says some younger singers did not until they started working on this production.

“It’s so important that we tell our stories. We have to keep them alive,” says Hite, who works for the U.S. Postal Service. “And, as a postal employee, I’m so excited that there’s a Harvey Milk stamp coming out this year. In a way, with this music and that stamp, it’s kind of like his time has come.”

The night of the assassinations, the fledgling San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus made its public debut on the steps of City Hall during a somber candlelight vigil for the slain men.

To mark its 35th season, the San Francisco group — and five gay men’s choruses, including Heartland — commissioned this work. Audiences that saw the premiere in San Francisco last year were moved to tears.

“I saw the chorus with candles in their hands, and it took my breath away,” wrote one reviewer for Broadway World. “As they stood onstage, more members walked down the aisles re-creating the candlelight vigil that happened 35 years ago. You felt Harvey’s presence in the hall.”

Lippa, the show’s composer, portrayed Milk that night. Heartland member Tom Lancaster, a professional actor who has sung with the chorus since 2000, will fill that role in Kansas City.

“For me, there’s a lot of weight on my shoulders to represent this man. You’re playing an American civil rights hero,” says Lancaster. “I did a ton of research … tried to get the specifics of who he was in my bones. But it’s a very basic story of a very simple man who tried to get a platform for his voice.”

Lippa, the Tony- and Grammy-nominated composer of “The Addams Family” and “Big Fish,” has said in interviews that he felt a special kinship with the older Milk, who took office about the time of Lippa’s bar mitzvah.

“I Am Harvey Milk” is less chronological biography than it is a musical highlight reel in 12 movements that celebrate key themes of Milk’s life.

One of Lancaster’s favorite songs is “San Francisco.” As the choruses sing, images of the city appear on a screen where photos and footage of Milk’s life are shown throughout the performance.

“It’s almost a prayer to that city and what it meant to gay men and women as a place where they could go and come out,” Lancaster says.

Hite was also moved by the tribute to the city that so famously gave harbor to the gay community.

“There’s a line in that song that says, ‘I am broken,’ ” Hite says. “That’s an emotional line for me to sing because there have been times when I have — as we all have — been broken.”

Maupins, who came out when he was in his late 20s, connected with a song called “Was I Wrong,” sung by soprano soloist Sylvia Stoner.

“Like a lot of people who have had children come out to them, my parents went through this whole deal: ‘What did we do wrong? Why is it this way?’ ” Maupins says. “It took me time to convince them that this is who I am , and as far as I have memory, this has been a part of me. Don’t try to take responsibility.”

He told his dad that being gay didn’t negate anything he’d accomplished thus far in life. He was gay when he went college, and he was gay when he served in the Air Force.

“You can’t revoke your pride now,” he told his dad. “You can still be proud.”

The show ends with a song called “Tired of the Silence.”

As images of public figures who have come out flash on the screen, the choir sings “Come out, come out, come out. …”

Dozens of times they sing it, forcefully, passionately, like preachers calling souls to salvation.

Saturday and Sunday

“I Am Harvey Milk,” a celebration of the life and legacy of civil rights icon Harvey Milk by the Heartland Men’s Chorus and Gateway Men’s Chorus of St. Louis, has two performances: 8 p.m. Saturday and 4 p.m. Sunday at the Folly Theater, 300 West 12th St. Tickets are $15-$40 through HMCKC.org or 816-931-3338. Soloists include Tom Lancaster, Cam Burns and Sylvia Stoner. Thirty minutes before each performance, Stuart Hinds, director of the Gay and Lesbian Archive of Mid-America, will talk about “An Emerging Community: Gay Kansas City in the ’70s.”

Two Men’s Choruses Unite to Celebrate Harvey Milk

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Bradley Osborn | Camp

On the last weekend in March, Kansas City’s Heartland Men’s Chorus and Gateway Men’s Chorus of St. Louis will combine their voices to perform the Midwest premiere of the oratorio I Am Harvey Milk. Part choral performance and part theater, the piece celebrates Milk’s life, from his childhood to his public career in San Francisco to his assassination.

A preview concert was held in Columbia, Mo., on March 8, and an encore concert is scheduled for April 5 in St. Louis. San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus artistic director and conductor Tim Seelig, who conducted the June 2013 world premiere in San Francisco , will conduct the Missouri performances. The Kansas City concerts will be at 8 p.m. March 29 and 4 p.m. March 30 at the Folly Theater.

I Am Harvey Milk, with music and words by Andrew Lippa, was co-commissioned by the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus, along with Atlanta Gay Men’s Chorus, Gay Men’s Chorus of Los Angeles, Twin Cities Gay Men’s Chorus, Vancouver Men’s Chorus and Heartland Men’s Chorus.

The newly formed San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus was scheduled to rehearse on the evening of Nov. 27, 1978, the day that San Francisco Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk were assassinated. Instead, members gathered on the steps of City Hall. There, during an impromptu vigil for the fallen leaders, the group’s blended voices were first heard in public.

For the Missouri performances, Tom Lancaster of Heartland Men’s Chorus will play the adult Harvey Milk. He said his appreciation of Milk’s work grew throughout the project:

I don’t have any personal memories of Harvey Milk. I was only 9 years old when he was assassinated. But I have vivid memories of Anita Bryant and her Save Our Children campaign, which fought so bitterly against the gay rights movement. I remember seeing her interviewed on television and seeing my parents nodding their heads in agreement with what she said. I learned later that Save Our Children helped introduce Proposition 6 in California, the proposed law that would make firing gay public school employees mandatory. The proposition failed, largely due to the work of Harvey Milk. It was his first major political victory.

I’ve learned a lot about Harvey while doing research — most striking was his connection to music. He loved opera from the time he was a child, and in the early 1970s he assisted the director of “Jesus Christ Superstar” on Broadway. I love that we’re telling his story in a medium that resonated with him.

I hope audiences respond to the piece the way I did when I first heard it. It’s so easy to become complacent — to become apathetic about the struggles we still face. Experiencing Harvey’s story told in this music sparked a fire in me — I wanted to get up and march in protest, I wanted to write my congressman, I wanted to make my voice heard as a member of the LGBT community. It helped me connect to a passion that had dulled over the years. I hope everyone who experiences the concert will react as passionately.

To learn more about the composition, go to I Am Harvey Milk

Just Before the Concert, a Chance to Hear About 1970s Gay K.C.

If you like local history, you should arrive early to one of the Heartland Men’s Chorus concerts in late March. Thirty minutes before each show, Stuart Hinds, co-founder of the Gay & Lesbian Archive of Mid-America (GLAMA), will present “An Emerging Community: Gay Kansas City in the ’70s” to warm up audiences for the main performance of I Am Harvey Milk.

HMC asked Hinds to discuss Kansas City during the time of Milk’s rise as a politician in San Francisco.

“It’s a really interesting period, with the emergence and disappearance of several advocacy groups and community efforts, lots of bars opening and closing, interesting developments in the world of female impersonation, founding of the lesbian and gay amateur sports league and the first Pride celebrations,” Hinds said.

Hinds’ presentations will be at 7:30 p.m. March 29 and at 3:30 p.m. March 30 at the Folly Theater.

Now almost four years old, GLAMA is a partnership between the Kansas City Museum and the LaBudde Special Collections of the Miller Nichols Library at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. Its mission is to collect, preserve and make accessible materials documenting the LGBT community of Kansas City.

In April, two GLAMA-related conference appearances are on the calendar. A UMKC history graduate student will present his GLAMA-based research on the Phoenix Society for Individual Freedom at the Missouri Conference on History in Jefferson City, Mo. And Hinds will sit on a panel at the Midwest Archives Conference in Kansas City, Mo. The focus of the panel will be the different approaches that Missouri’s three LGBT archives – in Kansas City, St. Louis and Springfield — take to developing their collections.

Archive’s new acquisitions

The archive contains historical images, periodicals, oral histories, local LGBT history overviews and a growing number of donated personal collections. Here are some of the latest acquisitions, with descriptions from Hinds:

Linda Wilson Collection — Longtime Willow Productions producer extraordinaire Linda Wilson turned over to GLAMA drawers full of material related to Willow, including the many performers who came to Kansas City, audio and video recordings from concerts, and much more. In addition, the collection features papers related to the founding and operation of Womontown, a lesbian enclave located in midtown Kansas City that was founded by Wilson’s partner, Barbara Lea.

Wick Thomas Collection — Activist Wick Thomas recently donated a group of items related to the queer youth group EQUAL, fliers from the local trans community, and promotional material highlighting Kansas City “homo-core” rock bands.

Dean Galloway Collection — These materials come from Kansas City’s leather community and include paperwork from the Mr. Dixie Belle and Heart of America Leatherboy contests from the late 1990s and early 2000s.

Martin Shapiro Collection — A small but very rare collection of newsletters and other papers from Kansas City-based advocacy groups in the 1970s.

For more information on the Gay & Lesbian Archive of Mid-America, go to glama.us. There you can browse its contents and perhaps consider making your own contribution.

“An Emerging Community: Gay Kansas City in the ’70s”
This presentation by Stuart Hinds of the Gay & Lesbian Archive of Mid-America will precede each concert.
7:30 p.m. Saturday, March 29 & 3:30 p.m. Sunday, March 30
Folly Theater, 300 W. 12th St., Kansas City, Mo.

I Am Harvey Milk
The concert will feature Kansas City’s Heartland Men’s Chorus and Gateway Men’s Chorus of St. Louis.
8 p.m. Saturday, March 29 & 4 p.m. Sunday, March 30
Folly Theater, 300 W. 12th St., Kansas City, Mo.
For tickets, go to HMCKC. Prices vary.

PREVIEW: “I Am Harvey Milk”

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Kristin Shafel Omiccioli | KCMetropolis.org

Gay rights activist and politician Harvey Milk made history in 1977 as the first openly gay person elected in California, serving on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. After nearly 11 months in office, Milk was assassinated by recently resigned fellow city supervisor Dan White, who wanted his position back. An early advocate for gay rights, Milk’s legacy has been immortalized in films, books, opera, and now a new 60-minute oratorio by Broadway composer Andrew Lippa (The Addams Family, Big Fish, The Wild Party). KCM executive editor Kristin Shafel Omiccioli spoke with Heartland Men’s Chorus (HMC) executive director Rick Fisher and HMC member Tom Lancaster about the HMC’s upcoming presentation of I Am Harvey Milk.

Kristin: I listened to a recording and it’s clear that, while Milk and his life are the central focus of I Am Harvey Milk, the themes run deeper than simple biography and go far beyond politics. Can you speak to some of the broader themes—bullying, activism, community, hope, pride, authentic living, etc.?

Rick Fisher: The piece is not really biographical, and listeners wouldn’t necessarily walk away knowing Harvey Milk’s life story. To provide the background, we’ve marshaled a number of educational resources in conjunction with the concert. These include showings of the movie Milk and the documentary The Times of Harvey Milk, notes from the composer in our printed program, a pre-concert talk 30 minutes prior to curtain by Stuart Hinds of the Gay & Lesbian Archives of Mid-America (GLAMA), and extensive background information on our website. All of the themes you listed are found within the musical—universal themes of contemporary relevance, even 35 years after Harvey Milk’s assassination. What is remarkable is that they are drawn from the life and work of a man who was not particularly remarkable by most accounts. Yet he stepped forward and did remarkable things, becoming a hero and a martyr for what he believed. Lippa’s goal was that every single person who hears this would somehow resonate with the person who was Harvey Milk and look for the part of Harvey within them—the hero. Thus, the title: I Am Harvey Milk.

Tom Lancaster: It’s been interesting to experience reactions of chorus members during the rehearsal process. Some didn’t know anything about Milk when we began; others only knew his name or had seen the 2008 movie. But during rehearsals, chorus members started to relate to Harvey’s story in very specific and personal ways. The song “San Francisco” is about the promise that city held for so many young gay people in the 1970s. During rehearsals, members of the chorus talked about “their” San Francisco. For some who grew up in rural Kansas or Missouri, they looked at Kansas City as a place where they could find other people like them. In some cases it was a first love that was “their” San Francisco. Some even shared that HMC is “their” San Francisco—a place where they could be safe and be accepted and heal.
The song “Sticks and Stones” includes repeated use of the word “faggot” and other slurs, and chorus members have talked with one another about what it means to sing that word, and they’ve shared their experiences with childhood bullying and name calling. For some it’s been a difficult process to sing those lyrics. They’ve had to work past the hurt experienced hearing those words in their lives. [Guest conductor] Tim Seelig has been very helpful in getting chorus members to form a personal connection with this material, and because so many of the themes are so universal, it’s been easy to do.

KSO: With people in the public eye coming out more frequently (U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin, Mizzou defensive end Michael Sam) and freedom to marry sweeping states one by one lately, how timely is it that we look back at the life and work of Harvey Milk now? His accomplishments obviously still resonate.

RF: Milk was one of the early generation of pioneers for LGBT acceptance and equal rights. In recent years, we have seen remarkable advances in civil rights for LGBT people. This is the legacy of Milk and other early pioneers, who courageously came out at a time when that was neither safe nor accepted. Today, young people are coming out at increasingly younger ages. It is so important that we remember where we came from, honor our heroes and teach our history, and this musical provides a compelling way to do that.

TL: It was surreal to rehearse this material and read news of LGBT victories and challenges happening at the same time. One day there would be a ruling striking down a ban on same-sex marriage in a particular state. The next day, I’d read of proposed legislation allowing people to discriminate against gays and lesbians based on “sincerely held religious beliefs.” Civil rights struggles in Uganda and Russia were in the news cycle as we were rehearsing. When Michael Sam came out, there were journalists on television asking why, in 2014, it was even important to come out publicly. But it is. I still know young men and women who are closeted among some family and friends. Just a few days ago, I had a friend tell me he couldn’t post certain pictures on Facebook because his boyfriend isn’t out at work. We’ve come a long way, but we have a long way still to go.

KSO: What was HMC’s role in the commissioning process for I Am Harvey Milk? How did the partnership with the Gateway Men’s Chorus for these performances come about?

RF: The commissioning project was launched by Dr. Tim Seelig, artistic director of San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus, who conducted the world premiere last June and will be our guest conductor for the KC performances. He invited other gay men’s choruses to join in the project, and HMC enthusiastically signed on, along with four other groups in North America. [A conductor, singer, teacher, and author, Seelig] was previously on the faculty of Southern Methodist University and is Conductor Emeritus of the Turtle Creek Chorale, Dallas, Texas, which he conducted for 20 years. HMC last collaborated with Gateway Men’s Chorus of St. Louis in 1997. Former HMC artistic director Dr. Joe Nadeau and GMC artistic director Al Fischer had discussed collaboration for several years, and this program emerged as the perfect opportunity. Recently, a joint rehearsal of the two choruses allowed for an out-of-town preview performance in Columbia, Missouri. So, the choruses literally are sharing this music and its important message across the state of Missouri.

KSO: What can audiences expect at your I Am Harvey Milk performances? I love the publicity artwork, by the way—will we see more of Bill Nelson’s art in the Folly? Will there be props, costumes, and acting as we usually enjoy at HMC shows (like For a Look or a Touch, for example)? How are two large choirs (!) going to fit on the Folly stage? Will your orchestra be expanded as well? Do you have any special guest artists for I Am Harvey Milk?

RF: I Am Harvey Milk will be performed with about 180 singers on stage, three marvelous soloists in the lead roles, and a 17-piece orchestra. The musical will be enhanced by projected visuals that have become a distinctive and distinguishing feature of HMC performances. The lead soloists will be in period appropriate dress; Young Harvey, played by Cam Burns, will appear as a boy in the 1940s; Harvey Milk, played by Tom Lancaster, will look very 1970s. Sylvia Stoner plays the role of Soprano, representing various female characters in our lives such as mother, teacher, etc.

TL: It’s a very collaborative concert. Dustin Cates will conduct HMC in the first act, and Dr. Seelig will conduct I Am Harvey Milk, which makes up the second act of the program. Gateway Men’s Chorus will perform a solo set in the first act and join HMC for I Am Harvey Milk. And we’ll have two guest performers: soprano Sylvia Stoner and 13-year-old Cam Burns. Sylvia’s “character” does not have a name; she serves as a female voice throughout the piece—Harvey’s mother, his teacher, his own conscience. Cam plays young Harvey Milk. He first joined HMC at a preview performance of the work in Columbia, and he was phenomenal—many members of the chorus and the audience could identify with his character. He begins the piece singing “I want my life to be just like an opera at the MET. Three hours in the dark where love is found in one duet.” People wept when they heard him sing those lines, partly because of the tragic end Harvey Milk met, but also because it is so easy to identify with being that child searching for love and escaping into a world of music.

KSO: Tom, as the work’s titular character, what about Harvey is guiding your portrayal of him?

TL: I’ve sung with HMC since August of 2000. I joined the chorus three weeks after moving to Kansas City from Houston, Texas. I’ve sung as a soloist with the chorus before, and I’ve worked professionally as an actor in and around Kansas City. I prepared by doing a lot of research: reading the Randy Shilts’ biography of Harvey Milk (The Mayor of Castro Street), watching the documentary and the feature film, and re-reading the play Execution of Justice about Dan White’s trial for the murders of Milk and George Moscone. The research was very helpful but the thing I try to keep in mind is that Harvey was an ordinary man who fought to get a platform for his voice. In archival footage, his contemporaries often describe him as an “unremarkable” man—but he saw injustice and ran for office to change his community.

KSO: No doubt the title alone points to how we may all be like Harvey. What would you like concert-goers to take away from the show?

TL: My hope is that this piece stirs a passion in every member of the audience. It certainly did for me. I wouldn’t call myself an activist, but experiencing this story has made me more vocal. It sparked a fire in me to speak out—to realize the tremendous power in coming out and living life authentically. One of Harvey’s biggest objectives was to convince the gay men and women who heard his voice to come out to their friends, neighbors, and coworkers. It’s hard to fight against equal rights when you can put a face on those being denied equality.

The Heartland Men’s Chorus will present I Am Harvey Milk on Saturday, March 29 at 8:00 p.m. and Sunday, March 30 at 4:00 p.m. at the Folly Theater, 300 West 12th Street, Kansas City, Mo. For more information about HMC or to purchase tickets, visit https://hmckc.org.

Men’s choruses perform tribute to Harvey Milk

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Aaron Pellish | Columbia Missourian

COLUMBIA — The Heartland Men’s Chorus of Kansas City and the Gateway Men’s Chorus of St. Louis performed a rehearsal Saturday night of “I Am Harvey Milk,” a collection of songs about gay rights icon Harvey Milk.

The choruses put on a free preview performance at Columbia’s Missouri United Methodist Church as a warm-up for performances in Kansas City and St. Louis later this month.

The performance was composed by award-winning composer Andrew Lippa and conducted by Tim Seelig, artistic director and conductor of the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus. The Heartland Men’s Chorus was one of six gay men’s choruses to commission the musical.

Seelig said he wanted to perform at the Missouri United Methodist Church because of its acceptance of Columbia’s homosexual community. Seelig said the musical is different from other biographical works of art focused on Milk, such as the 2008 film “Milk” and the 1982 biography “The Mayor of Castro Street,” because it is designed to make audiences empathize with Milk as a regular man.

The choruses will officially open “I Am Harvey Milk” at the Folly Theater in Kansas City on March 29.

Two Choirs Honor Harvey Milk

/in Press

Denny Patterson | The Vital Voice

harvey_milk Missouri will soon receive the pleasure of hearing the collaboration of two of the state’s prominent gay men’s choruses.

St. Louis’ Gateway Men’s Chorus and Kansas City’s Heartland Men’s Chorus will come together to present “I Am Harvey Milk,” on March 29 and 30. Heartland and Gateway have done joint concert projects previously in 1993 and 1997.

“I Am Harvey Milk” celebrates the life and legacy of LGBT icon Harvey Milk, and was written by Tony and Grammy nominated composer Andrew Lippa. This performance tells the story of Milk’s life from childhood to his assassination.

Milk was the first openly gay person to be elected to public office. He won a seat on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors and served for almost 11 months before being assassinated by fellow, and recently resigned, supervisor Dan White.

“This is a nonlinear piece that shines a light on the work, mission, and life of Harvey Milk,” GMC Artistic Director Al Fischer says. “It’s not a biography. The goal is that audiences will see glimpses and see music and be inspired and find themselves. We’re encouraging people to come out. People should take a look at their own lives and ask themselves, ‘what can I do to be Harvey Milk?’”

HMC collaborated with five other gay men’s choruses in North America to commission “I Am Harvey Milk.” According to HMC Executive Director Rick Fisher, the songs touch on delicate themes such as activism and bullying.

“Audiences will learn about this essential chapter of LGBT history while being entertained through this beautiful and compelling musical,” Fisher says. “Harvey Milk was not particularly remarkable by most accounts. Yet he was a man who became a hero and a martyr for what he believed. Composer Andrew Lippa’s goal was that every single person who hears this will somehow resonate with the person who was Harvey Milk and look for the part of Harvey within themselves.”

Each chorus will perform individual sets then come together as a full chorus. Repertoire is inspired by Milk’s famous quote, “You gotta give ‘em hope!” With 200 members singing, Fischer hopes to blow the local community away.

“I hope audiences will be blown away by the piece and talk about it for a long time,” he says. “With 200 guys on stage, it’s an exciting big sound and our orchestra is larger than usual. Hopefully we’ll be a part of the national conversation.”

Dr. Tim Seelig will conduct the Kansas City performances. He previously conducted the 2013 world premiere production in San Francisco.

In addition to the March 29 and 30 performances, there will be two additional performances: one in Columbia, Mo. on March 8, and one in St. Louis on April 5. March 8 will also be the first time both choirs will be performing together.

“Both choruses are currently getting independent processes,” GMC member Joe Gfaller says. “On March 8, we will all be meeting in Columbia for a full day rehearsal to create one sound for both choruses combined. At the end of that rehearsal, we will be performing for a live audience.”

Gfaller has been a member of GMC since January 2012 and looks forward to the opportunity to tell an inspiring and important story.

“The title of the concert says the message of the piece,” he explains. “’I Am Harvey Milk’ means more than this is the story of one man. It’s meant to say that each of us in a way reflect that legacy and carry the responsibility and the opportunity to continue the work that he did–to make our community more of a diverse place of all backgrounds that are valued, appreciated, safe and welcomed.

Not only are the singers receiving a certain perspective on the concert itself, but also on the music scene in their respective cities.

HMC member Michael Stortz was a member of GMC for 25 years until he was offered a job promotion in Kansas City in January of last year. He moved in February and was able to join Heartland during their open rehearsal period for the summer concert.

“I joined GMC right after moving to St. Louis from Indianapolis in February of 1992,” he recalls. “I found that the GMC provided me an instant community of friends in a new city. I perceive the music scene in each city to be quite similar, although I have not yet had the opportunity to explore Kansas City in depth. I am excited to be able to share the stage with friends, both longtime and new.”

A similar, but likewise situation happened to Todd Neff. He was involved with HMC on and off from 1992-2012 and joined GMC after his job transferred him from Kansas City to St. Louis in November 2012. He sang in almost 40 concerts with HMC.

“An obvious difference is size,” he says. “Heartland regularly sings with over 150 men on stage while Gateway is 50-80. They are about the same in age, but different in character.

“The current GMC board has the same fire and passion that I saw in Kansas City and is determined to take the group to the next level,” he continues. “I think they can learn from the successes and challenges Heartland has faced over the years. Both groups have an outrageous amount of talent and desire to put out a great product.”

Unfortunately due to work and time commitment, Neff will not be involved with the “I Am Harvey Milk” performances. He says he is currently on sabbatical.

The Kansas City performances will be held at the Folly Theatre at 8 p.m. on March 29 and 4 p.m. on March 30. Tickets are $15-40 and can be purchased online at hmckc.org or by phone at (816) 931-3338.

The performance in St. Louis on April 5 will be at WashingtonUniversity’s 560 Music Center at 8 p.m. Tickets are $25 and can be purchased online at gmcstl.org. The March 8 Columbia, Mo. performance will be at MissouriUnitedMethodistChurch at 7 p.m. This performance is free and open for the public.

Men’s choruses use song to declare ‘I Am Harvey Milk’

/in Press

Any Wilder | Columbia Daily Tribune

The Heartland Men’s Chorus of Kansas City will team with the Gateway Men’s Chorus of St. Louis to present selections from Andrew Lippa’s “I Am Harvey Milk” on Saturday at Missouri United Methodist Church.

Men’s choruses from Kansas City and St. Louis will combine forces Saturday to present a free concert with musical selections from “I Am Harvey Milk” by Grammy-nominated composer Andrew Lippa. Tim Seelig, artistic director and conductor of the Golden Gate Performing Arts and San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus — who conducted the world premiere of Lippa’s production in San Francisco — will conduct.

The Heartland Men’s Chorus of Kansas City and the Gateway Men’s Chorus of St. Louis will converge on Columbia for a daylong rehearsal Saturday, followed by that evening’s performance.

“I saw that as an opportunity for us to” perform “in the Columbia community,” said Heartland Men’s Chorus Executive Director Rick Fisher. “We were there several years ago and had a really great experience doing an outreach performance, … and it’s time for us to return.” The concert is a preview performance, presented by the University of Missouri LGBTQ Resource Center; in late March and early April, the two choirs will perform in Kansas City and St. Louis, respectively.

The music centers on the life of Milk, an openly gay man who made history when elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. He helped pass a gay rights ordinance for that city before being murdered in 1978 by another city supervisor, Dan White. With the recent coming out of MU football player Michael Sam, Fisher called the Columbia concert timely.

“The Columbia community — and the nation — have really been focusing on this issue,” he said. “It’s interesting … the emphasis of Harvey Milk’s life and legacy is that you have to come out and that when you come out, it’s going to make a difference in society. He was talking in a time when no one talked about being gay, when it was secret, covered up and hidden. I think we have seen, over the decades since he was alive, how that call has really manifested itself in the reality that society has become more accepting.”

Tom Lancaster, an actor who sings the part of Milk and has been a member of the Heartland Men’s Chorus since 2000, agreed, citing recent news reports about gay rights struggles around the world. It’s not necessary to have an interest in or know much about Milk to enjoy the songs, he added.

“The great thing is that it’s specific to his story, but it’s also so universal. The songs touch on themes that literally anyone can relate to, from bullying to the importance of teachers in our lives to the inspiration of music.”

Lancaster never thought of himself as particularly political before joining the chorus, but as he has witnessed the power of song to affect people and help change attitudes about social issues, it has “really tuned me into a kind of advocacy I didn’t know before,” he said. The all-volunteer chorus, composed of gay and “gay-sensitive people,” often addresses social issues through song, performs benefit concerts for various organizations and focuses on community outreach.

The experience of singing about, or hearing songs about, deeply charged issues really has the power to inspire, he continued. “I’ve seen audiences cry; I’ve seen members of the chorus onstage moved to tears. … That’s what’s kept me a member of the chorus all these years. We get letters and emails following performances almost routinely, from people who are coming out, or people who are learning to accept a son or a daughter, or people who are challenging their own belief system.”

“We combine the music and the entertainment with a sense of activism and using our voices to create social change,” Fisher said. “The thrust of the piece is not as much to tell about Harvey Milk as an historical character, but it’s about encouraging the listener to find the Harvey Milk within themselves — the person that is the hero. Harvey was an ordinary person that did extraordinary things. We all have that capacity.”

This article was published in the Sunday, March 2, 2014 edition of the Columbia Daily Tribune with the headline “Joining forces: Men’s choruses use song to declare ‘I Am Harvey Milk’.”

This article was published in the Sunday, March 2, 2014 edition of the Columbia Daily Tribune with the headline “Joining forces: Men’s choruses use song to declare ‘I Am Harvey Milk’.”

“I Am Harvey Milk” Shares Universal Message

/in Press

Ciara Reid | Liberty Press

"Harvey Milk" rehearsal For many, the 2008 film Milk was an introduction to Harvey Milk and what he was able to accomplish in terms of LGBTQ rights, as a politician and gay rights activist in San Francisco. The film depicts these accomplishments and his tragic murder.

On Mar. 29th and 30th, audiences at the Folly Theater will get to experience the Heartland Men’s Chorus (HMC)and the Gateway Men’s Chorus of St. Louis tell the powerful story of Harvey Milk in the form of 12 emotional songs.

The choruses will be two of five gay men’s choruses nationwide that have commissioned “I Am Harvey Milk” this year. Additional performances will be held in St. Louis and Columbia, Missouri. “I Am Harvey Milk” was written by composer Andrew Lippa, a Tony and Grammy award-nominated composer.

“One of the best parts about this project is knowing it will be performed all across North America this year,” says Tom Lancaster, HMC chorus member who will be performing the role of Harvey Milk. “To be part of something that far-reaching is exciting.”

He says the HMC production will be notable for its size; they will have more than 200 voices in the chorus. Also notable is the presence of Tim Seelig as guest conductor. He conducted the world premiere of “I am Harvey Milk” in San Francisco. “Tim is a legend in the gay choral movement,” Lancaster says.

For Lancaster, the opportunity to portray Harvey Milk is the role of a lifetime. “To play an iconic, historical character is challenging, but Harvey’s passion comes through so strongly on the page, it’s very easy to identify with him,” he says. “I’ve been preparing since December, watching the film Milk and the documentary The Times of Harvey Milk.”

Lancaster’s preparation also includes reading Randy Shilts’ biography, The Mayor of Castro Street, and the play Execution of Justice, which is about Dan White’s trial for the murders of Milk and George Moscone, who was mayor of San Francisco at the time. Lancaster says that even though there isn’t the chance to lapse into impersonation, as the piece is sung through, he hopes to channel the essence of Harvey Milk.

The performance, which features 12 songs, is not a meticulous biographical retelling of Milk’s life; rather, it focuses on several critical moments in his life, including the signing of the antidiscrimination bill that he sponsored. The songs, Lancaster says, touch on universal themes that everyone can relate to.

“’Thank You, Mrs. Rosenblatt’ speaks to the importance of teachers in our lives–from the teachers who taught us in school to those who ‘taught’ us by their fight for LGBT civil rights,” Lancaster explains. “’Friday Night in the Castro’ is a disco-influenced number that illustrates the mood of the Castro District of San Francisco in the 1970s. There is even a song sung from the perspective of the bullet that killed Harvey Milk.”

The performance of “I Am Harvey Milk” serves as an important reminder for the LGBTQ community to remember heroes like Milk, who have helped pave the way for progress in this country. For Lancaster, it gives the chorus members a chance to share Milk’s story, along with his significance in history.

“The battles he fought during his political career are the exact same battles being fought today, especially here in Kansas and Missouri,” he says. “We can draw inspiration from Harvey as we fight the political and religious battles that challenge us every day.”

Those who attend a performance will most certainly be moved by the power and emotion of the music. The finale in particular will stir emotions. The finale of the piece has the chorus singing the words ‘come out’ over and over again, each time with more and more force,” Lancaster explains. “It’s so simple, but it’s profound. One of Harvey’s greatest hopes was that every gay man and woman that heard his story would come out to their friends, to their families, to their communities – that we all would find the strength to live our authentic lives. And there is tremendous power in that.”

Each time Lancaster sings the 12 songs in “I am Harvey Milk,” he is moved by its overwhelming optimism. “Telling this story on stage is a deeply empowering experience, for the men on stage singing and for everyone who hears it,” he says.