“Peace, Love, and Harmony” is the Theme for Reading Community Singers Concert

The most recent offering of the Reading Community Singers was a musical extravaganza, with not only choral singing but various production numbers and a full half of the concert performed in costume.

Randy Newman’s “Short People” gave the chorus a chance to pick on height-challenged director Beth Mosier, which they did with glee.  “Hey Soul Sister” brought out the ukulele-playing duo of Alison La Terza and Al Mosier who plunked along as accompanists.

“So You Think You Can Dance,” is a medley of up-tempo dance tunes of various styles of the last fifty years.  The music brought out the dancing enthusiasts, a goodly number of whom remembered the twist even though they probably haven’t done it since Chubby Checker was at the top of the charts.  Rapper Sarah Clark sang more contemporary stuff with her “Gonna Make You Sweat.” A real crowd pleaser was the local contingent of Village People, replete with hard hats, feathers, and black leather jackets, spelling out YMCA.

The second half of the concert consisted of choral selections from “Les Miserables,” the well-known musical based on the Victor Hugo novel of the same name, the culmination of which is an anti-monarchist uprising of the downtrodden in Paris in 1832.  The chorus was in costume for this half, presenting a movie-worthy gang of rabble, ready to storm the barricades. 

Focusing on choral performance, the solos in the original movie were sung by the group as a whole or by small selections of singers, with the exceptions of the signature piece “On My Own” sung by Alison La Terza and “Empty chairs at Empty Tables” handled by Ron Hodgkins. Structured in this manner, the production gave a large number of singers the chance to shine.

The finale, “Do You Hear the People Sing?” was a full-voiced march as the people still sang of their hope for a better tomorrow while the red flag of revolution continued to wave at the barricades.

The RCS awards an annual scholarship to a high school musician from the area who plans on studying music in college.  This year’s winner is Amy Sokolow, a senior at Lynnfield High School whose vocal talent has been displayed in her school’s chamber singers, its a capella group and school musicals.  She has studied voice for eight years and guitar for four.  She is also the lead vocalist and guitarist for the teen band Sababa which performs locally.  Amy intends to study music at Tufts University. 

As part of the concert, Amy delighted the audience with her musical ability, singing Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah”, accompanying herself on the guitar, as well as Gershwin’s “Summertime” and Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “Impossible” from the musical “Cinderella.”  She was accompanied on the piano by her father, Rich, who is a songwriter and producer of many projects for radio, TV and the movies.

The concert ended with an allusion to the theme, “Let There Be Peace on Earth” with a flute solo by alto Linda Lydecker.

The next season for the Reading Community Singers begins on September 2.  Rehearsals are on Tuesdays from 7:30 to 9:30 at Old South Methodist Church in Reading.  Singers of all abilities are sought.  See www.readingccommunitysingers.org for more information.