“Till There Was You”
EDITOR’S NOTE: Sault Business Matters has received the following media release from the Northland Barbershop Chorus.
The Northland Barbershop Chorus, the Sault, Ontario chapter of the Barbershop Harmony Society, will present its 57th Annual Show on Saturday, April 6, at 7:30 p.m. at the Sault Community Theatre Centre.
The 40-man chorus will present songs in four-part a cappella harmony within the context of an original play. More show information can be found at www.northlandchorus.com/annual-show.html .
The first version of the show, “Till There Was You” was presented by the Northland Chorus in 2004, written by chorus members Bob Shami and Steve Patterson, with contributions from Wendy Hamilton and the late Susan Barber. At the core of their story was a premise worth revisiting in 2024: “It’s never too late to be happy.”
With that in mind, Chorus Director Bob Shami rewrote the 2004 script to accommodate the new music being performed this time.
The show has a Twilight Zone vibe and is set in “Heaven’s waiting room”, a place somewhere between heaven and earth where anything is possible. The play will run as the show’s first act and will include 12 songs performed by the Northland Chorus.
Imagine a lonely man whom fate allows a second chance at finding true love. In this show, just such a man will have to choose whether or not to go back in time and return to a pivotal crossroads moment of his life.
It was WW II when, as a young man about to be shipped overseas, he faced his moment of truth, his golden opportunity for love. Will he now choose to go back to that moment and perhaps make different choices this time? Or, will he choose to stay and face an uncertain future? Our loneliest of souls (Harry Houston) will be guided by his counselor and advocate (Penny Gribbon) and opposed by her opposite number (Chas Calam).
Stage direction is by Chris Horsepool.
Barbershop is not an era, rather it is a style of singing harmonizable music from any era. This show includes songs from Roy Orbison (Pretty Woman – 1964), Bill Withers (Lean On Me – 1972), The Mills Brothers (Be My Life’s Companion – 1951), Karen Carpenter (The End of the World – 1973), from The Music Man and covered by The Beatles (Till There Was You- 1963) and many more.
The show’s second act will feature “First Take”, an a cappella quartet specializing in modern barbershop harmony arrangements. The quartet was awarded third place bronze medals at the 2023 Barbershop Harmony Society International Quartet Competition and is comprised of experienced performers, coaches, and teachers.
First Take formed for the purpose of entertaining worldwide audiences and strengthening the community ties of those who love vocal harmony.
Each year since 1995, a donation drawn from show proceeds has gone to the Speech-Language Pathology Unit at Sault Area Hospital in support of local speech therapy programs. In 2023, the Northland Chorus passed $110,000 in lifetime donations to this cause in keeping with their motto: “We Sing … That They Shall Speak.”
Revenue derived from the annual show is only source for Northland Chorus donations to the Hospital.
Featured Musical Performers
Northland Barbershop Chorus: Now in its 63rd year. Bob Shami – Music Director —www.northlandchorus.com
Headline Quartet: First Take — award-winning quartet from Virginia, Kentucky and New
Jersey — https://firsttakequartet.com/.
All Tickets: General Admission – $38 CDN Funds, available at: Theatre Centre Box Office, Station Mall, Hess Jewellers, Churchill Plaza.
Any member of the Northland Chorus, Soo Theatre/STARS, 534 Ashmun St., Sault, Mich.
Tickets may also be available at the door. Doors open at 6:45 p.m. Curtain is 7:30 p.m.
For more information about the long history of support of local Speech Therapy services by the Northland Chorus, see: www.northlandchorus.com/about/our-service-project-we-sing-that-they-shall-speak.html .