Choral Society Presents Annual Follies Production
The Lakewood Area Choral Society will present their 13th annual Follies production on Saturday, August 19, at Grace Community Church, 8950 E M79 Hwy, in Nashville. Show times are 3:00 and 7:00 p.m. Tickets are available through Hodges Jewelry and Gifts in Hastings or by contacting Joanie Oster at 269-967-7246 or lacsmusic@gmail.com. Tickets can also be reserved through the choral society’s website: www.lacsmusic.org. Any unsold tickets will be available at the door.
This year’s theme is “All That Jazz,” and features special guests the Thornapple Jazz Orchestra (TJO), under the direction of Joe LaJoye. Follies music director and LACS artistic director and conductor, Robert C. Oster, calls TJO, “A musical tour de force in our community. We are thrilled to be able to share the stage with this outstanding ensemble.”
This year’s show, more in a collage format, will feature individual members of the choral society performing with the band: Cherie Snoap Andrakowicz singing When I Fall In Love, Jodi Rzepecki performing Walkin’ My Baby Back Home, Trish Klein singing Blue Skies, The More I See You will be sung by Gayle Brooke, Ronni O’Toole will be featured in Fly Me to the Moon, Lisa Sterkenburg will perform Come Rain or Come Shine, How High the Moon will be sung by Cindy Thelen, and Deb Grogan will sing You’re Nobody Til Somebody Loves You. TJO will be featured in solo slots performing Just Friends, American Patrol, Pennsylvania 6 5000, and Everyday I’ve Got the Blues.
Other soloists include Kristen Kennedy singing Cry Me a River, Mike Gilbert performing The Nearness of You, Mary Kuhlman will sing Bewitched, Jean Weygandt will present Ella Fitzgerald’s version of In Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea, and Carl Anderson will sing For You, For Me. A small jazz combo will be used with set-drummer, Dennis Downing and bassist, Kyle Wellfare. Duets will feature Jan Tossava and John Myers performing Button Up Your Overcoat, and husband and wife team and LACS accompanist, Robert and Sue Morton, will sing Taking a Chance on Love and Almost Like Being in Love. Other larger ensembles also featured will be the Sassy Chicks performing Sing, Sing, Sing, and the Delightful Divas singing It Don’t Mean a Thing If It Ain’t Got That Swing.
The choral society will present the ballad, Over The Rainbow, with soloists Lisa Thatcher and Stephanie Lukas, and will be featured with TJO singing Since I Fell For You with soloists Jill VanZyl and Gary Platte at the 3:00 show, and Heather Lewis and Larry Ott at the evening show. TJO and LACS will also team up on Route 66, and the production theme, All That Jazz. The Lakewood Acapella Choir will sing Cole Porter’s You Do Something To Me, and On the Sunny Side of the Street accompanied by TJO. “It’s going to be a jazz jam-packed show,” said Oster.
Lakewood Area Choral Society emeritus members will also be recognized during both shows. Doors will open at 2:30 for the 3:00 show and 6:30 for the 7:00 p.m. show.