Wes Serafine
Equinox Staff
This past weekend, The Colonial Theatre here in Keene, N.H. played host to a concert by the Greater Keene Pops Choir, in what would be the final show for their conductor of 18 years, Jean Nelson.
Nelson became the choir’s conductor in 1995, having served briefly as the first accompanist and assistant director. As the show began, she expressed her gratitude towards both the audience and the choir itself with her own brand of humor.
The show opened with a rousing rendition of “Funiculi Funicula,” originally composed by Andrea Bocelli, which set the tone for the quality of the rest of the show, establishing that this would be an afternoon filled with powerful and enjoyable music.
The show continued this trend with several songs, including “Be Our Guest,” originally composed by Alan Menken and showcased in Disney’s “Beauty and The Beast,” “What a Wonderful World,” as made famous by Louis Armstrong and “I Love Piano,” composed by Irving Berlin. Several of the songs included talented soloists who helped to bolster the songs and give them that added strength and staying power.
The first act closed out with some very well known and equally well-performed tunes, including “Climb Every Mountain” from “The Sound of Music,” “Rock Around the Clock,” best known as the theme song from television’s “Happy Days,” and a song titled “Concertschtick,” which combined several children’s songs and holiday songs into a medley that paid homage to the songs we all heard as children. Half way through the first half of the show, the choir’s pianist, Walt Sayre, performed a song by himself, when he sang “How High The Moon,” as made famous by Ella Fitzgerald.
After intermission, a guest group known as Main Street performed at the theatre.
The group of four singers did an excellent job with their songs, such as “Heart from Damn Yankees,” by Richard Adler and “Walk Him Up the Stairs” from the musical “Purlie!” but their strongest performance by a long shot was “Suddenly Seymour,” from “Little Shop of Horrors,” a song that was designed to bring out the power in one’s voice and succeeded in this rendition in a big way.
The Keene Pops Choir continued with songs such as “Walkin’ After Midnight,” by Patsy Cline, “Aura Lee,” by Jim Reeves, “One Voice,” by Billy Gilman and “Some Things Aren’t Meant to Be,” from the “Little Women” soundtrack.
However, the highlight of the show came when the choir paid tribute to “Les Miserables” with three songs from the classic musical. First, and strongest of the three, was “Do You Hear the People Sing,” which was delivered with the power and bombast that it deserves.
Next was “Bring Him Home,” which not only featured the excellence of the choir, but also a surprise soloist who performed specially for his grandparents’, members of the choir, anniversary. Though the choir did an excellent job with “One Day More,” the addition of a slow and restrained drum beat really held back from what is normally a very powerful and bombastic song.
The choir continued with “You Raise Me Up,” by Josh Groban, and then halted the show to pay homage to their retiring conductor. Mayor Kendall Lane paid tribute to Jean Nelson’s last performance. In addition to Mayor Lane’s tribute to Nelson, she was given a piece of sheet music signed by Mark Hayes, Nelson’s favorite composer.
After expressing her tearful gratitude, Nelson turned around and led the entire choir and audience in the final performance of the afternoon, “America The Beautiful.” All in all, the Keene Pops Choir gave an excellent performance. And Nelson could not have ended on a higher note.
Wes Serafine can be contacted at
wserafine@keene-equinox.com