Choral Review:  Sun Theater crossover with the STL Chamber Chorus

Long-time attendees of Grand Center shows and concerts may recall the past status of the Sun Theater, particularly its iconic sign lit up at night, but also its many years of abandonment, so that the nighttime neon was the space’s only sign of life for all those years.  In hindsight, it’s amazing that the Sun Theatre wasn’t condemned or demolished, but instead got restored to become an integral part of the Grand Center Arts Academy.  This past Sunday (November 10), the Saint Louis Chamber Chorus (SLCC) gave the second concert of its 2024-2025 season at the Sun Theater, the group’s first-ever performance there.  Perhaps fitting the venue’s ethos, this concert, titled “Classic Pop”, had a secular and ‘popular’ focus, rather than works based on religious or sacred texts, or ‘high art’ poetry. 

 For convenience, this review first lists the full program with the encore, with the composers and lyricists (when the latter was separate from the former), along with the arrangers, again in a flip of standard protocol in popular concert reviews which give the “set list” at the end of the review.  Thus:

 Harold Arlen and Yip Harburg:  “Over the Rainbow” (arr. Russ Robinson)

Sir Paul McCartney (Lennon and McCartney): 

1. “Can’t Buy Me Love” (arr. Keith Abbs; given in the program as “Money Can’t Buy Me Love”)
2. “Yesterday” (arr. Paul Ayres)

Peter Gabriel:  “Washing of the Water” (arr. Jens Johansen)

Taylor Swift:  “Carolina” (arr. Orin Johnson)

Gretchen Peters:  “On a bus to St. Cloud” (arr. Stuart McIntosh)

Ed Sheeran:  “Supermarket Flowers” (arr. André van der Merwe)

(intermission)

Coldplay:  “Viva La Vida” (arr. Jens Johansen)

Billy Joel:  “And So It Goes” (arr. Bob Chilcott)

Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II:  “Can’t Help Lovin’ Dat Man of Mine” (arr. David Dunnett)

Michel Legrand, Alan Bergman and Marilyn Bergman:  “How Do You Keep the Music Playing?” (arr. Alexander L’Estrange)

George Gershwin and Ira Gershwin:  “Our Love Is Here To Stay” (arr. Stuart McIntosh)

Trent Reznor:  “Hurt” (arr. Melissa Dunphy)

Cole Porter:  “Every Time We Say Goodbye” (arr. Sir Richard Rodney Bennett)

[Encore:  Tom Springfield:  “The Carnival Is Over” (arr. Martin Bussey)]

Four of these selections have featured in past SLCC concerts, the Gretchen Peters, Billy Joel, Gershwin brothers, and Cole Porter songs.  Thus, the idea of featuring popular songs in an SLCC concert certainly had precedent on the level of individual selections, though not necessarily regarding a whole concert of such selections.  In his introductory audience welcome, Mr. Barnes credited his wife Rachael with the overall idea of this concert, and also noted scattered past moments that led to the inclusion of particular numbers (e.g. an airplane playlist with Trisha Yearwood’s recording of “On a bus to St. Cloud”, the movie Where The Crawdads Sing with “Carolina” as part of the soundtrack).  The encore saluted Ms. Dunphy’s Australian heritage, as The Seekers made “The Carnival Is Over” a staple of Australian popular culture. 

The arrangements of the Taylor Swift and Trent Reznor/Nine Inch Nails songs received their world premieres at this concert, with Melissa Dunphy in attendance to hear her arrangement live.  SLCC artistic director Philip Barnes conducted all but two of the songs, with the SLCC’s two assistant conductors each conducting one selection, Orin Johnson with his arrangement of “Carolina” and Caroline Ibnabdeljalil with the Gershwin brothers classic.  Mr. Barnes had requested Mr. Johnson to make this arrangement of “Carolina”, as no other arrangement existed at the time.  He praised Mr. Johnson’s work just before the performance, praise that proved well justified with the arrangement’s skill and quality, to these admittedly non-Swiftie ears.  Ms. Dunphy, an avowed fan of Nine Inch Nails, showed her own considerable skills as a choral composer in her arrangement of “Hurt”.  The use of a chorus softens the harsh edge and sentiment of the lyrics (which include an expletive that one cannot say on the radio, perhaps a first in SLCC history, certainly a first in my hearing of the group).  The one arrangement that most overtly turned the original on its head was of “Can’t Buy Me Love”, which morphed the song into a 16^th century Elizabethan madrigal.

One recurring feature in the concert was the degree of opportunities given to solo singers from the chorus.  This next list gives featured SLCC members with notable solo, and in the case of “Carolina”, duo, passages (hopefully without missing anyone):

“Carolina”:  Jill Ritter Lindberg, Caroline Ibnabdeljalil

“On a bus to St. Cloud”:  Madison Jackson

“And So It Goes”:  Stephen Schermitzler

“Can’t Help Lovin’ Dat Man of Mine”:   Mary Ongjoco Chapman

“How Do You Keep the Music Playing?”:  Susan Crecelius

“Our Love Is Here To Stay”:  Philip Barnes

“Every Time We Say Goodbye”:   Carter Datz, Maggie Tritten

The standout among the solo voices was Ms. Chapman, in terms of style and of carrying over the full chorus, besides the sheer percentage of Hammerstein’s lyrics that she had to sing alone.  That arrangement of the Kern which foregrounds the solo voice, with the rest of the chorus pretty much in the background, admittedly facilitated that task.  In fact, several arrangements utilized much of the chorus in a “do-do-do” accompaniment, in lieu of instruments or some sort of musical ensemble (e.g. orchestra, big band, rock band) that would otherwise accompany the vocal line. 

This raises an interesting meta-point about these arrangements, as to whether songs with very individual-focused lyrics (or occasionally about a couple) lend themselves to group singing.  I certainly don’t have an easy answer to that thought, although from my personal perspective, it seems that the older and more iconic classic songs like “Over the Rainbow” lend themselves more appropriately to group singing, precisely because of their iconic status where virtually everyone in the audience knows the lyrics (and did not sing along, per Mr. Barnes’ droll request at the start).  Perhaps the single individual focus of most, if not all, of the songs helps to explain why so many of these arrangements feature extended solo moments.

As usual, the SLCC were on solid form, although the choral sound didn’t quite bloom as fully as at the previous SLCC concert in O’Fallon, as the Sun Theater’s acoustic is on the dry side.  It was easy at moments for the individual voices to get “lost in the crowd”, so to speak, and not always to carry.  However, it’s interesting that the SLCC tried something different for this concert, as well as a treat to witness an example of the Sun Theater back in active use, a decade after its restoration.