Pictured is Jonathan English.
(Oneida, NY – March 2014) The Oneida Area Civic Chorale will present “The Envelope, Please” at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, March 15, and at 4 p.m. Sunday, March 16, at the Kallet Civic Center in Oneida.
The cabaret-style concerts will feature songs from award-winning Broadway shows and movies and will include some light-hearted audience interaction. The Chorale, a 100-member community chorus that has been performing in the Oneida area since 1967, will be under the direction of Kimberly Nethaway of Rome, now in her 19th year as Chorale director.
Chorale member Patricia Albaugh of Oneida will act as concert host, and Jonathan English of Syracuse will join the Chorale as special guest host and soloist.
The concerts’ musical selections span a 62-year period of Oscar and Tony award-winners and nominees, starting with “Trolley Song,” from the 1943 film Meet Me in St. Louis and culminating with the concert finale, “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life” from Spamalot, winner of the Tony Award for Best Musical of 2005.
English will perform solos in several of the numbers, including “As Time Goes By,” from Casablanca, and two songs from the 1951 Tony winner Guys and Dolls: “Fugue for Tinhorns” and “Luck Be a Lady,” which will be sung by the men of the Chorale.
Six Chorale members will offer solos. Kathy Gay of Oneida will solo on “Swinging on a Star,” winner of the 1944 Best Song Oscar from Going My Way; and Rob Wright of Oneida will solo on “Hallelujah,” from Shrek, winner of the first-ever Academy Award for Best Animated Feature.
Sarah Terrell of Sherrill and Linda Slavin of Rome will be featured in “For Good,” from Wicked, and Don and Jody Drake of West Winfield will offer a duet in “Children Will Listen” from the 1988 show Into the Woods.
Accompanists for the concert will be Heather O’Connell of Oneida and Bernadette VanValkenburg of Sherrill.
A cash bar will be available at the cabaret-style concerts. Tickets for each concert are $10; table seating will be limited, so tickets must be purchased in advance from Chorale members, at W.J. Hinman Jewelers, 115 Main St., Oneida, or by calling Beth Webber at 315.697.3377. The Kallet Civic Center is handicapped-accessible. For more information, visit www.oneidachorale.com.