As the gay community integrates directly into more suburban communities, it’s necessary to expand gay social as well as artistic groups. Consequently, regardless of having a South Florida Gay Men’s Chorus (SFGMC) in Fort Lauderdale, and a Miami Gay Men’s Chorus (MGMC), it is suitable to introduce one in Hollywood.
“People tend to think of South Beach and Wilton Manors as the big meeting places for the gay community in South Florida,” said Dale Penn, P.R. and marketing representative for Hollywood Gay Men’s Chorus. “Hollywood however, as it is sort of between Miami and Fort Lauderdale, is an ideal home for a new gay chorus. The city of Hollywood has been very welcoming and very supportive of the choir, in this experimental stage of development.”
The chorus will not compete with both pre-existing choirs. Instead, they plan to work and perform with each other. As a third expressive option for performers, the new choir may even organize rehearsal dates as well as shows so as to not conflict, just in case they wind up sharing chorus members.
“There are a number of gay and lesbian choruses in the area, and that’s not unusual in a metropolitan area of our size. Furthermore, basically the founders of our group are the original founders of the South Beach, now MGMC,” said Penn, who was one of the South Beach choir’s founders also. “The choral community is a great group of people. We’re all good friends.”
To that particular end the local gay men’s choruses as well as the Lambda choir have offered to share music with the new choir.
The creators of the Hollywood choir come with an extensive pedigree in terms of instruction and jobs in the field. The choir was described by Penn as the “brainchild” of Craig Fashbaugh, its founder.
Fashbaugh was a founding member of the Windy City chorus in Chicago, along with the Chicago Gay Men’s Chorus. By 1999, he was one of the founding members of the South Beach Gay Men’s Chorus, which later became the Miami Beach Gay Men’s Chorus. In terms of creating a chorus in Hollywood, Fashbaugh is very fired up.
“Our Hollywood is one of the best kept secrets for music and the arts. They are committed to the arts, they even have three outdoor amphitheaters. They rebuilt the main one in circle center which will open in December. They also plan to rebuild the one on the beach on the broadwalk,” said Fashbaugh, who sees great things happening with the chorus and also the Hollywood arts scene as a whole.
Artistic Director William Carney has been a fellow member of the voice faculty at Miami Dade College, Wolfson Campus since 1994. He has also been a member of the New World School of the Arts in the theater and music divisions since 1999. Carney has worked in the Episcopal music tradition since 1970, with such noteworthy churches as St. Thomas Church on 5th Ave in New York, and Miami’s Trinity Cathedral.
“We would like to maintain 80 percent music and 20 percent theater within our performances,” said Penn. “Between each song there will be skits or little theatrical tidbits, or perhaps a complete show where the music is related via dialogue.”
To keep choir members on their toes, they’ve also involved Founding Member and Choreographer Eric Miji, who began performing when he was sixteen and is thrilled to be a part of the Hollywood Gay Men’s Chorus. He was also a founding member of the South Beach GMC where he’s directed 1 and choreographed a number of performances on their behalf. The choreographer has a rich background in American Musical Theatre which will certainly influence the choir’s shows.
Penn pledges to focus more on showtunes, and hopes their performances may well be more just like a fun, Glee encounter than the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. He states not to anticipate members in tuxedos standing upon risers.
“We intend to be a show choir,” Penn told SFGN enthusiastically. “A show choir has a tendency to have performances with a theme. In this case we want to do popular, Hollywood and musical influenced music more so than classical choral music.”
The group also stresses they would like to be more a community theater, in which both professional and shower-time singers will be treated similarly. According to Penn, in places such as Los Angeles there’s a waiting list for being in the choir. Potential crooners then audition and might get a call back.
“With the HGMC we intend to consider people who wish to perform and teach them how. We’re not necessarily searching for professionals,” Penn emphasized.
Their very first audition will take place on Monday, September 13, in the McNichol Community Center on 28th Avenue, with rehearsals on the next Mondays.
The group states these are not really auditions as much as vocal placement. Their very first show is slated for December 3, even though the group hasn’t confirmed a title, they guarantee to perform out as scheduled.
To explore the upcoming auditions, email Craig Fashbaugh at Craigcf@mac.com or call (954) 603-7373.
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