The Gay Men’s Chorus Celebrate Whitney Houston
metroweekly.comThe Bodyguard.“‘Run to You’ is my favorite to conduct,” she says. “It’s very choral. It’s just so beautiful! And the soloist and the chorus bring so much emotion to it.
It really has a journey. The arrangement starts simple and it just really gets nice and big where it needs to.“I’m also looking forward to ‘I Will Always Love You’ — and yes, that is in the show,” she says. “I can imagine the emails we’d get if we didn’t include that one.”Planning a show for a 200-member choral group performing nothing but songs associated with the late Houston presented some specific challenges, different from the Judy Garland-themed program, which was the focus of the first concert in the current “Phenomenal” season, which in June will focus attention on Dolly Parton.“It’s a choral program,” says Kano. “You don’t want it to sound choral-like, you want it to sound like Whitney.”Ultimately, for a few selections, the only way not to sound choral is to keep the chorus on the sidelines. “A couple of the pieces will be strictly solo with no chorus.” Others could use more than the chorus to keep things lively and up — perfect for an additional boost from 17th Street Dance.And still others sound best with a little bit of everything.
Take “How Will I Know,” for instance, which becomes a full production number involving the entire company.“There is a soloist who starts out and continues to sing as the chorus joins to really bring that nice big sound that the chorus is capable of doing.”Another full production number centers on a standard, “I’m Your Baby Tonight,” that Kano expects will surprise many fans when they hear it.“Even before we held auditions, someone said, ‘Now that can’t possibly be a chorus number.
