FINAL MIXED CHORUS CRUISE - LAUGHTER AND SONG

PANAMA CANAL, CARIBBEAN & CENTRAL AMERICA

April 1 - April 12, 2004


(Last modified: $Date: 2005/03/11 19:35:06 $)

In the Spring of 2004, there was mixed barbershop harmony all over the Caribbean and Central American coastlines. Part of a cruise with a community band group, the mixed chorus sang in three shows with the band. The shows were actually half barbershop and half band; since we did not have the necessary microphone setup available, we did not perform any joint numbers. Over the ten-day trip, we managed to sandwich in six rehearsals and those three performances. The music was the glue between sightseeing, eating and partying... in Ocho Rios (Jamaica), Cartegena (Columbia), the San Blas Isles and a day in the Panama Canal/Lake Gatun (Panama), Puerto Limon (Costa Rica), and Nassau (the Bahamas.)

The partying was especially fun, since director (and MHBQA member) Dave LaBar and assistant director Carl Hancuff are both noted for their quick wit and zany sense of humor. Some participants claimed that even rehearsals were parties! Dave has been the director or assistant musical director for several of our MHBQA-sponsored mixed barbershop chorus cruises over the past few years. Band director Jim Christiansen (from Disneyland Enterprises) added his own contributions to the laughter and fun. Our main performance was on board our Italian Cruises ship Lirica, for all the passengers. We played to a packed house... and some of the audience later said that it was the best show of the entire cruise - music to our ears! The band played many familiar numbers, then cleared the front part of the stage for our 20-voice chorus.

While both worked with the chorus during rehearsals, Dave took the directing reins in shows and Carl kept the flow going with a great MC job. Dave led us in Home on the Range, Bye Bye Blues, Wait 'Till the Sun Shines Nellie, Coney Island Baby Medley, Darkness on the Delta, and I Love You Truly. Interspersed were songs by quartets formed on board from the chorus - Sweet and Lovely and Li'l Lize. It didn't have to be a difficult song to be an audience pleaser... that was obvious from the applause. The chorus was loving it, the audience remembered and loved the songs, and everybody had a good time. As an added bonus, since nine of the singers had also been on one or the other of the China chorus tours sponsored by MHBQA, and still remembered Rainbow Sister, the nine sang it for the audience -- in Chinese!

The other two performances were really something. We sang in local town squares, performing for the locals. In Costa Rica we had our own tour bus (as opposed to the regular tours from the ship.) This bus took the singers, band members and instruments on a sightseeing tour, then back into the town of Puerto Limon for a 90-minute performance break. Chairs had been set up in a corner of the square for the band, under huge trees, and the chorus members hung out in the nearby shady park until it was our turn. We did a shortened version of our shipboard show, but it was enthusiastically received. Then it was back on the bus for a gourmet lunch, and more sightseeing stops. The last show of the trip was in Nassau (Bahamas Islands) on Easter Sunday. We walked to the local square from the ship. As it was Easter, everyone was out dressed in their finest from their morning in church... and they were more than ready to enjoy our noontime concert!

It doesn't get any better: singing your favorite music, meeting new barbershop friends, travelling in the luxury of a cruise ship, and sightseeing new places... with the bonus of being able to break into a barbershop song at any time for newfound local friends! We all were sorry that this was the last of the planned cruises for the forseeable future (tour organizers Kim & Jerry Orloff are retiring), but who knows? Maybe again sometime in a few years...


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This page is maintained by Tom Arneberg ( toma@arneberg.com)
(Last modified: $Date: 2005/03/11 19:35:06 $)
For more info about MHBQA, email Kim Orloff at korloff@ix.netcom.com