4/4/25

Day two: NYC

So how did we all end up in NYC as part of a fabulous choir? Katie has a big voice which she has been developing through high school, college, and graduate school. She even sings professionally now in her off hours. But John and my stories are quite different. I’ve always thought John has had a good voice but he was always too busy at Christmas and Easter playing trumpet to ever sing a note with the St.Philip’s Choir (which Katie and I have both done for years.) So we girls were in while John insisted that he was not a singer and would not sing. He did agree to go on the trip as a “non-singer,” however.

Nicole sent the package, the schedule of payments, and the music. We were all downloading and listening like crazy, waiting for the intense rehearsals to begin while John stayed quiet. Finally, on the night of the first rehearsal, as I had my hand on the door knob to leave the house, he called out, “But I don’t even know what voice I have.” In five minutes, Katie assigned him the part of tenor and he was in. Nicole was thrilled to see him and by sitting right next to George (a pro), he hung on. Katie gave us a voice lesson on another day and five intense rehearsals later, here we are. 

Tp day was a lovely day which we spent entirely in rehearsal working with two conductors and making great progress. Our 25 person group grew to 40 and then to 184 as different choirs joined us. The music is becoming terrific. For lunch, we went down the street to Carves for proper New York style pizza. 

After the rehearsal, we dressed for our show, cross the street to Juniors for another lovely dinner then went next door to the Miskoff Theatre (that close) to see The Lion King. What a fabulous show! What a huge cast, many of whom worked puppets as giant giraffes, gazelles, an elephant, and plants, grasses that waves with the breeze or grew out of the Savannah, and the music…. The pit was terrific, and percussion mounted in two alcoves in window boxes above the stage was present in every scene. Lots in audience interaction, lots of color and a great story. Ahhh…

After the show, we walked out the back entrance to Times Square and saw where the ball drops on New Year’s Eve. This was a regular Friday night and we think it was as crowded as 12-31.  But that’s New York!

Tomorrow, something new…. Good night. 

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